Luton 3, Rochdale 3 (Dawson 58, Thompson 87, 89)

Photo: Jon Coluccio

Rochdale manager Keith Hill

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Rochdale staged a remarkable 2nd half comeback in their FA Cup 1st round tie after Luton Town from the Blue Square Premier stormed into a 3-0 half time lead at Kenilworth Road. Local lads Joe Thompson (2) and Craig Dawson drew Dale level to force a replay at Spotland.

Keith Hill’s men were stunned after a Steve Basham brace and Adam Newton’s deft lob looked to have sealed the Conference outfits passage to the 2nd round within the first half hour, only for the comeback kids to strike back.

The Dale gaffers build up plans had been given a major boost by the news that Captain Gary Jones and Will Buckley would be fit to face the Hatters. Hill also had good news after Oldham Athletic finally gave their on loan striker Chris O’Grady permission to play. Jones replaced the ineligible Stephens whilst Rundle came in for the on loan Whalley. Holness replaced the suspended Stanton in the heart of the Dale defence. Buckley made the bench.

The biggest headache that the Rochdale management team faced was who would be available to take the number 1 jersey as Kenny Arthur missed the victory over Bournemouth with a back injury and reserve keeper Matt Edwards is nursing a broken hand. Arthur’s temporary replacement at Dean Court last weekend, Josh Lillis, has returned to his parent club Scunthorpe who didn’t want their man cup tied. The final alternative was 16 year old Danny Taberner from the youth team but Hill was reluctant to throw the youngster into the lions den which is Kenilworth Road. Kenny Arthur was picked but from the outset it was obvious the Scotsman wasn’t fit as he winced with pain at every kick, punch or throw. His full backs had to take his goal kicks to ease the pain whilst during the game you could see that the Dale defence were reluctant to pass the ball back, often putting each other under pressure as they tried to work their way from danger.

The game started in glorious Autumn sunshine after an impeccably observed minutes silence as we remembered those that have lost their lives fighting for their country. The Hatters new manager Richard Money was forced into a change of his own during the warm up as number 1 keeper Mark Tyler injured himself so reserve stopper Shane Gore was thrust into the fray. The home side had to withstand some early Dale pressure but it was them that took the lead after just 4 minutes after Newton raced down the Luton left. His lay off fell to Gallen whose cross was met by Steve Basham who nodded the conference side into and early lead to stun the 355 visiting supporters behind the goal.
Hill’s men seemed to react fairly positively to going behind with Dagnall, Jones and Rundle all having chances with the latter missing a glorious chance to level the game after Dagnall’s through ball found Rundle unmarked on the left of the 6 yard box but the winger fired across the face of goal. At the other end the home side could have doubled their lead when Pilkington and Newton found space in the box but their attempts were saved and blocked respectively. A nervy moment came in the 7th minute when McArdle challenged Luton’s Freddie Murray in the box but the referee deemed the full backs fall to be simulation whilst trying to gain an advantage and was duly booked by referee Danny McDermidd.

Just as Hill’s men were starting to get a foothold in the game Newton beat the offside trap and easily won the race against a leggy McArdle and the wingers deft lob over the on rushing Arthur was a worthy goal to double the home side advantage. With Dale shell shocked The Hatters seemed to be able to break at will and beat the offside trap easily again with Gallen giving McArdle a torrid time at full back but his lob was well over. The 3rd Luton goal, that seemed to be the final nail in the Dale coffin, came after another bit of poor defending when Gnakpa’s cross wasn’t cleared by Holness. The loose ball fell to Basham who rifled home from 10 yards out for his 2nd of the game and with it came the home fans chants of, "Easy, easy, easy".

Even at 3-0 down before the half hour mark, Hill’s side didn’t look out of the tie although the back line with McArdle at full back and Arthur’s injury looked decidedly shaky. O’Grady could have reduced the deficit on 30 minutes but his shot was blocked by keeper Gore after he narrowed the angle whilst Rundle had an effort beaten away by Gore. As the half time whistle drew nearer it was Rochdale who finished the half the stronger with O’Grady and Rundle guilty of missing decent opportunities.

During the half time interval, most of the talk in the press room was of Kenny Arthur and his injury. The majority verdict was that the game was all but over and young keeper Taberner should be introduced but as the players emerged from the dressing rooms there were to be no changes – what do we know anyway!

There was one change in personnel for the home team with Captain Keith Keane being replaced after injury by Jake Howells whilst Dale boss Keith Hill made one subtle change by switching McArdle to centre back and pushing Holness to full back. Arthur was still in the Dale goal and looking decidedly uncomfortable as the game got under way. Almost immediately Luton went on the attack and earned a corner which was cleared but only to Gnakpa, who, from a very acute angle forced Arthur into a smart stop at his near post. Pilkington almost made it 4 from the resulting corner but his free header was wide. After Dale had ridden the early second half storm they started to assert pressure on the home side and with the balance of the team looking better, Hill’s men got into their rhythm and started to stroke the ball around the Kenilworth Road pitch. In their best move of the game so far, O’Grady should have netted his 5th Dale goal after Rundle’s run and cross down the left was expertly dummied by Dagnall and with just the keeper to beat, the on loan Oldham man’s first time effort went over the bar. At this stage there only looked like one team that was going to score and when Dagnall’s through ball set Captain Gary Jones racing at goal it looked like he would make it 3-1 but Gore came out and bravely smothered the ball at Jones’ feet.

The travelling support wouldn’t have to wait long for the comeback to begin as while lining up for a Dale corner in the 58th minute, Keith Hill made a double substitution bringing on Higginbotham and Buckley for Rundle and O’Grady. Whether the changes disrupted the home side’s concentration you couldn’t be certain but when Tom Kennedy’s left sided corner was met by the unmarked McArdle, his glancing header was deflected home at the far post by local lad Craig Dawson to give Dale hope. Rochdale had more self belief after the goal and Thompson could have netted but his lob was off target. Gary Jones perhaps should have got on the score sheet on 65 minutes after beating the offside trap to race onto a Holness through ball and find himself one on one with Gore. The keeper came out on top after Jones was hindered in his shot by a pull of his shirt and Will Buckley’s follow up went close but again Gore was equal to it. For the next 20 minutes or so the game looked to be petering out into defeat until another local lad, Joe Thompson popped up with a goal from close range after a pin point Tom Kennedy cross with just 3 minutes remaining. By this point the Hatters were rocking and just moments before the 4th official's board went up Buckley and Jones linked up well down the left with the Dale Captain reaching the bye-line and lofting a ball towards the diving head of Thompson for his 2nd of the game and earning a replay in the process. In fact McArdle could have won it for Hill’s side deep into the 4 minutes of stoppage time when his free header from a Kennedy corner went narrowly wide but it wasn’t to be.

For the 2nd time this season Rochdale have come from being 3 down at half time to nick a draw but with £18,000 going to the winner of this tie, this could be a season shaping result. If Hill can mastermind a decent cup run, hopefully he will be able to keep hold of his young stars when the transfer window opens in January.

Hill said afterwards: "It was a bit of a rollercoaster but I don’t think the score line at half time reflected the game up until that point. There were ridiculously bad mistakes defensively which gave Luton a 3-0 advantage but we created some really good opportunities but we didn't make the most of them. Second half we changed it around a little bit as we can do and the belief came back once we got the first goal and their self doubt crept in and they sat a little bit too deep. We needed to get the ball forward a little earlier but because of the injury to Kenny Arthur he couldn’t kick it which causes problems in itself he was having to play it short to the full backs. It was a massive gamble to play Kenny but what else do you do? Do I play a youth team player with no experience? It would have been more difficult to have played him so we had to take the risk with Kenny, but he said he would try and get through the 90 minutes to get us into the next round. Today McArdle was up against Adam Newton and he struggled so we changed it around at half time which perhaps with hindsight, I should have done it earlier in the game but we looked a bit more comfortable in the 2nd half from a defensive point of view. We’ve got a replay against a very good side but the main thing is we are in the hat tomorrow."

Attendance: 3,167

Luton Town: Gore, Keane (Howells 46), White, Pilkington, Newton, Burgess, Blackett, Gnakpa, Basham (Craddock 74), Gallen, Murray.
Subs: (not used) Asafu-Adjaye, Hall, Jarvis, Charles, Reynolds

Rochdale: Arthur, T. Kennedy, J. Kennedy, Jones, Dagnall, Rundle (Higginbotham 57), Thompson, O’Grady (Buckley 57), McArdle, Dawson, Holness.
Subs: (not used) Spencer, Taberner, Manga, Brizell, Flynn

Attempts (On target): Luton 8 (5) Rochdale 15 (9)
Corners: Luton 5 Rochdale 6

Referee: M. McDermidd