Late Le Fondre winner gets Dale back on track

Bradford v Rochdale

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Bradford City 1 (Thorne 45)
Rochdale 2 (Clarke 12 o.g, Le Fondre 90)

Rochdale returned to winning ways, after suffering three successive defeats, thanks to Adam Le Fondre’s injury time winner at Bradford. The game looked to be heading for a draw, Peter Thorne having cancelled out Matthew Clarke’s comical own goal in the first half, but Dale sub Le Fondre struck from the edge of the box to send the 800 Dale fans behind the goal wild.

Le Fondre was left out of the starting eleven by Rochdale boss Keith Hill after disappointing during the midweek defeat to Hereford. He was brought on with twenty minutes to play and produced the perfect response to being dropped by slotting a superb goal to give the visitors a vital victory, which puts their play-off charge back on course.

Le Fondre has perhaps disappointed at Spotland since signing from Stockport in the summer, despite scoring some crucial goals, this one today following up winners at home to MK Dons and away at Shrewsbury earlier in the season. He was left out of the side in place of Lee Thorpe, who gave Dale a presence up front against big Bradford centre forwards.

Dale could and should have been home, dry and on the coach with the three points before the halftime whistle blew, such was the number of chances they squandered against a Bradford defence that had seemingly joined the circus.

Keith Hill said: “Our winner was just rewards for our first half performance. There was free flowing football but we did not take our opportunities.

“The win gives us fifty points so we’re safe for another season and it puts us a step closer to where we want to be. We set short term aims to win football matches but we have a long term aim and that is to get promotion. We want success where other managers have failed at Rochdale. When we play well we show exactly how good we are and now we need to start doing that at home.”

The comedy of errors in the back line began when Clarke stuck out a leg to intercept a completely harmless ball into the box but such was the breakdown in communication with goalkeeper Scott Loach that the ball trickled beyond him and into the net.

The nightmares continued for Clarke and Loach throughout the half but Rochdale failed to make them pay any further price. Rene Howe got in between the defender and goalkeeper and took the ball beyond Loach. The angle was too tight to finish however, and the square ball to Thorpe, who would have had a tap in, was just behind him and the recovering defenders managed to scramble clear.

The most clear-cut of Dale’s chances to double their lead came when Howe released Gary Jones through the middle but his finish across the goalkeeper lacked direction, missing the far corner by inches.

Dale were to pay the ultimate price for missed opportunities, two others fell to Thorpe in close proximity but he was unable to get in a clean strike from close range. In the dying stages of the half a Bradford cross fell kindly to Lee Thorpe at the back post and he finished across James Spencer, re-instated in the Dale goal at the expense of Sam Russell.

The second half was a much more even affair after Dale’s dominance in the first. The home side sorted out their defensive woes and Loach stopped making clangers whenever the ball came his way. This was no more evident than when he produced a superb save to keep out Howe’s near post flick.

At times the game opened up into a good end-to-end contest with plenty of space opening up on the Valley Parade pitch although neither keeper was kept occupied to any great extent. Thorne came close to putting the home side ahead when he struck a dipping volley superbly in the latter stages of the half. It had Spencer beaten but flew inches past the far upright when it looked for all the world as if it would nestle in the corner.

Tired legs made for even more space in the final minutes and if Thorne had done better at the end of one break then it might well have been the home side who would celebrate the three points at the end. The striker fired wide from tight angle but if he had looked up and noticed the superbly positioned Ben Starosta, then a shot on target would almost certainly have been the result.

As it was Dale marched up the other end and won it. Le Fondre found space on the edge of the box and produced the finest of finishes. He did not strike the ball particularly hard but the goal was all about the placement of the shot, bending the ball right into the far corner, giving Loach no chance.

Attendance: 14,017

Bradford: Loach, Heckingbottom, Clarke, Wetherall, Starosta, Daley (Colbeck 69), Johnson, Bullock, Nix, Thorne (Brown 86), Topp (Conlon 74).
Subs not used: Penford, Moncur.

Rochdale: Spencer, Ramsden, Holness, McArdle, Kennedy, Muirhead (Buckley 81), Perkins, Jones, Rundle, Howe, Thorpe (Le Fondre 76).
Subs not used: Russell, Doolan, Basham.

Attempts (on target): Bradford 13 (6) Rochdale 12 (6)
Freekicks: Bradford 20 Rochdale 16
Offside: Bradford 3 Rochdale 5
Corners: Bradford 4 Rochdale 4

Referee: C Boyeson.