Who Would Be A Rochdale Fan?

Lincoln City 7 - 1 Rochdale

Alan Green asked ‘who would be a Rochdale fan’ on his Radio 5 Live show on Saturday night and this was probably the same thing Rochdale supporters were asking of themselves after witnessing a humiliating defeat at the hands of Lincoln City. Just two weeks ago the Dale faithful were riding high after the five goal demolition of Darlington, only to be brought back down to earth with the heaviest of bumps against a ruthless home outfit that was by far the best Rochdale have, or possibly will, face in the duration of this campaign.

Steve Parkin was sympathetic towards the travelling support: “I feel sorry for the fans who turned up because they were probably expecting a really cracking game and at 2-1 it had all the ingredients of being so. We’ve no excuses, it was a bad day at the office and we have to make sure we put it right.”

The problem in analysing such a game is where to begin. It’s hard to be over-critical of Rochdale after their recent away form but then again it is somewhat difficult to put that form into context following such a thrashing. The main question of course, is where do the team go from here? How does the team go about recovery? Can such a defeat be just a blip? Upcoming home derbies against Stockport and Bury could go a long way in deciding just how the team has reacted to the loss; at the moment it is hard to describe what a 7-1 defeat actually means.

Steve Parkin said after the game that it was important for his side to bounce straight back. Positive thinking, but then how else can a manager who was probably as shell shocked as his players react to such a performance. He said: “We were never at the races, conceded an early goal and five goals from the front two tells you everything about our defending. It was an awful performance but sometimes you get them and it is just a question of how you bounce back from them.”

It must be said that Lincoln were good; very, very good. They certainly earned the fact that when they look at their goals tally for the game it will have the number spelled out just to clarify exactly how many goals they scored: Lincoln City 7 (Seven) Rochdale 1.

It was their strike partnership of Jamie Forrester and Mark Stallard that did the damage; they were sublime. They gave what has recently been a particularly effective Dale back line the run around for the entire ninety minutes. But as good as the Lincoln centre forwards were, the Rochdale defence proved particularly effective in helping the strikers out; they were at sixes and, literally, sevens. This could again suggest that this was just a distinctly bad day at the office for Dale, as it would be pretty much impossible for them to defend this badly again!

If there is such a thing as a typical 7-1 defeat, then this game was not it. If a defeat of this magnitude is where a team gets torn apart from first minute to last and grabs a consolation goal somewhere along the line, then this game was not it. For forty-five minutes, Rochdale were in the game and if things had gone their way, which they most definitely did not, then they could have been level at the break.

After Lincoln had raced into a two goal lead thanks to a superbly taken Forrester strike and a close range tap in for his strike partner Stallard, both goals coming courtesy have some nervous Dale defending with Nathan Stanton largely at fault, Rochdale were suddenly back in the game thanks to Alan Goodall’s clinically struck volley from the edge of the box after a Lee Crooks’ free-kick was half cleared.

Before Dale’s goal the home side should have made it three after a beautiful flowing move which is worth mentioning if only for Forrester’s superb first-time fifty yard pass that started the move off; it ended when Stallard missed the target from close range at the far post. The let off seemed to finally rouse Dale to advance from the starting blocks and they embarked on a spell that should have seen them get back on level terms.

Morike Sako and new loan signing Glenn Murray, who was reasonably impressive given the score line, should both have levelled matters when put through one-on-one but Sako hit a tame effort at Marriott and then Murray followed suit with his attempted lob. The two chances were interspersed with strong shouts for a Rochdale penalty when Chris Dagnall checked his run inside the box and was tripped by Ryan Amoo, only for the referee to deny the claims.

With the exciting half drawing to a close the visitors gave themselves an almighty whack in the teeth by somewhat comically conceding a third. An innocuous looking ball over the top had James Sharp in trouble under pressure from Forrester. The defender called on Gilks for help, a considerable distance from his area, and between them they managed to miss the ball and leave Forrester to pass into the empty net.

The second half was a disaster for Rochdale; they were battered from the forty-fifth minute to ninetieth. Lincoln fired at will on the Dale goal; in keeping with the RAF heritage of the area, bombarding a shell shocked Rochdale side.

Defensive errors and clinical finishing summed things up. Forrester completed his third hat-trick of the season by adding the fourth. Again, Sharp was to blame for Dale as he allowed Stallard to steal in along the touchline. He raced through, squared to the unmarked Forrester; the hat-trick was secured with ease.

The remaining three goals flowed in at steady intervals during the half and in the end Rochdale were fortunate that seven was where the scoring ended. Not that many Dale fans would have known if it had been more; many of them made for the exit as the seventh hit the net, in a somewhat masochistic way, they can at least say that they were there when this game is recalled in Dale’s history, as it no doubt will be.

For the record; Jeff Hughes scored the fifth, a deflected strike from the edge of the area, Stallard secured a brace with the sixth, Amoo this time taking advantage of the space behind Goodall on the left, Stallard made a typically superb movement in the six yard box to lose any potential markers and fired Amoo’s low cross into the roof of the net. Hughes grabbed a brace himself with number seven, side footing home Forrester’s high ball to the back post.

To clarify:

Lincoln City 7 (Seven) Rochdale 1