Dodds’ delight on debut

Chester City 0
Rochdale 1 (Dodds 5)

Lewis Dodds extended Rochdale’s unbeaten run to eight matches with a fifth minute goal on his first start for the club. The striker, on loan from Leicester City, had been restricted to late cameos in other games but with Adam Le Fondre having been recalled by Stockport in midweek, Dodds was launched into the starting line up and he gave Dale a winner that propels them further clear of the relegation scrap.

The small number of fans at the Deva Stadium, boosted considerably by a 700 hundred strong travelling support, looked set to enjoy an entertaining prospect after the early goal but in truth this game was anything but entertaining until it exploded into life in injury time.

Rochdale manager Keith Hill spoke about how his side ground out the win, “It was a bit ugly but we got a goal early and it was one of those games today. To win ugly showed determination and a lot of character from the lads; the conditions did not help, the wind spoiled the game.”

That wind meant that both sides had the better of a half; Rochdale could have extended their lead in a first period in which the home side produced very little. John Danby did well in the Chester goal to ensure the lead was not stretched for the visitors with a few regulation, but necessary stops. Dodds was denied a second from close range and Danby was aware when Steve Turnbull tried to catch him out with a quick free kick and the Dale midfielder had a second, deflected attempt stopped. Danby’s best save came from a Ben Muirhead corner that was drifting in at the far post with the aid of the wind before the Chester keeper dived to turn it away.

If Dale had had the better of the first half then Chester absolutely dominated the second with the wind at their backs and upped the pressure on the Dale defence but the home fans became increasingly frustrated at the lack of chances they were able to create. Anger was vented towards the Chester players but a considerable amount was also directed at the referee, who denied the home side two penalties. The extent to which Chester bossed the second half was summed up by their manager Mark Wright; “John Danby could have sat down and lit a cigar, Rochdale did nothing until they broke late on.”

The first penalty incident brought about an almost farcical situation. Brad Maylett whipped in a free kick for the home side and the linesman on the far side promptly flagged for a foul by a Chester player. However, the referee spotted a different infringement and blew the whistle for a penalty and booked Dale defender Rory McArdle. Both sets of players seemed shocked that a penalty had been awarded and neither seemed to know what was going on when the referee spoke to the linesman and then gave Dale the free kick for the original infringement. With the players still scratching their heads the referee ran over to the fourth official to tell him that the booking for McArdle would not stand.

A second penalty claim was more clear-cut when the same linesman flagged for a foul by Alan Goodall on Maylett. The linesman had flagged for a free kick rather than a penalty but the Chester players were adamant that the foul had occurred inside the box and pointed to divots made by the challenge that were inside the area but the referee disagreed and awarded a free kick on the very edge of the box.

The goal and these two penalty incidents were the only talking points of the entire ninety minutes but journalist’s pens went into overdrive in injury time. When the fourth official announced four minutes of injury time no-one could have predicted how much hard work Dale would make of holding onto their lead. Chester fans who had departed before the end, and many had done so, would not have denied that Dale deserved the win but the ensuing injury time left Mark Wright saying, “We deserved a goal tonight, we should have got at least, and I mean at least, a draw from it.”

Chester had a header cleared off the line, Matthew Gilks made a world class save in the Dale goal, Chris Holroyd volleyed over from two yards out and Simon Yeo cracked a shot against the crossbar from the edge of the box, whilst Dale should have wrapped things up on the break when Muirhead squared to Glenn Murray in the Chester six yard box but the Dale forward scuffed his shot wide; add to that some minor fisticuffs between John Doolan and Dave Artell and more had happened in what turned out to be nearly eight minutes of injury time than had happened in the entire ninety.

Man of the match – Alan Goodall – With Nathan Stanton unable to return from suspension due to injury, Goodall took up the centre half role once more and once again he looked to be in his element with some superb challenges that kept Chester at bay as they piled on the pressure in the second half. Goodall also played his part in the injury time extravaganza when he headed Simon Yeo’s header off the line.

Attendance: 2,197

Chester: Danby, Linwood, Bolland, Artell, Marples, Maylett (Holroyd 74), Hand, Wilson, Hessey, Yeo, Brownlie (Steele 57).

Subs not used: Sandwith, Cronin, Meechan.

Booked: Yeo, Artell, Hand.

Rochdale: Gilks, Ramsden, Goodall, McArdle, Perkins, Muirhead, Doolan, Turnbull (Crooks 67), Rundle, Dodds (Thompson 81), Murray.

Subs not used: Rigby, Jackson, Prendergast.

Booked: Doolan.

Attempts (on target): Chester 10 (6) Rochdale 8 (6)
Free kicks: Chester 17 Rochdale 20
Offside: Chester 8 Rochdale 3
Corners: Chester 7 Rochdale 2

Referee: A Taylor.