Five Star Dale Batter Dire Darlington

Darlington 0 Rochdale 5

Rochdale recorded their biggest away win in over fifty years as they beat Darlington 5-0. Darlington were on the receiving end of Dale’s best display for years and when they had a man sent off early in the first half, the five goal drubbing seemed to be an inevitable conclusion as the visitors attacked at will and in the end Darlington were fortunate it was only five.

From first whistle to last Dale were on top against a lacklustre home outfit who were under a cloud after the sacking of manager Dave Hodgson in the week, a decision which angered most Darlington fans, and they vented their anger towards chief executive Jon Sotnick as the goals flew in for Rochdale.

The visitors opened the scoring in the seventh minute through Morike Sako. The ball fell to Gary Brown from a half cleared corner; he headed it back into the danger zone and Chris Dagnall did well to hold the ball up in the box and feed Sako. The tall striker bought himself a yard from his marker and fired a superb right foot shot across goalkeeper Sam Russell and into the bottom corner.

The visitors continued to dominate and minutes later they carved out a great chance for a second. Gary Jones did well down the left flank and his pull back found Barker inside the box with plenty of time to fire at Russell. Unfortunately for the Blackburn loanee was still searching for his first Dale goal after his attempt was straight at Russell.

With fourteen minutes gone Darlington were down to ten men and despite the fact it was only 1-0, the incident marked the end of the game as a contest. Craig James was sent for an early bath after a horrific, high and late challenge on Gary Brown, and after a lengthy discussion with his linesman, referee Woolmer got it right and showed the red card.

Rochdale manager Steve Parkin thought it was a sending off which was deserved for James. “The sending off was justified, it was late and high but credit to Gary Brown who was on the receiving end of it for eventually getting up, dusting himself down and getting on with it.”

It took six minutes before Dale doubled their lead and it came in some fashion. After stringing at least fifteen passes together, the ball came to Alan Goodall on the left hand edge of the box. Goodall advanced as the home defence backed off and unleashed a twenty-yard thunderbolt, which flew over Russell and in off the crossbar.

The home side were clearly shell shocked and it was a case of playing keep ball for the visitors as they completely dominated the remainder of the half. In Jon Doolan and Lee Crooks, Dale had the ideal midfielders to play against ten men; they passed the ball to death as the home side tired by the minute in chasing shadows all over the park.

Dale enjoyed some shooting practice given all the space that was afforded to them on the edge of the Darlington box. Gary Jones and Chris Dagnall fired narrowly over the bar and then Lee Crooks tested Russell once more when his long range effort was palmed out for a corner.

Morike Sako doubled his goals tally with thirty-five minutes gone and once more it was a clinically taken strike. As Darlington lost the ball in the midfield once more Dale advanced at will. Doolan fed Sako down the right. He advanced at pace, skipped inside a defender and fired a carbon copy finish to his first goal, this time with his left foot.

Sako had a chance to round off what would have been an outstanding hat-trick when his attempted over head kick sailed just wide of the upright. The Darlington defence were completely unable to deal with the tall striker and an overhead kick hat trick finish would have completed an unbelievable first half.

Dale fans did not have to wait long to see a fourth goal as they scored again just before half time. Keith Barker displayed a deft touch into the path of Chris Dagnall. Dagnall raced through and produced a superb calm finish, in fitting with his recent form, to finish off a remarkable half of football.

The second half was played out like a pre-season friendly against non-league opposition. The visitors strung the passes together superbly; at one stage early in the half they must have put twenty-five passes together before Barker was caught offside, preventing what would have been an unbelievable fifth goal.

The remainder of the half was scrappy, although Darlington did manage a semi-meaningful attempt on goal. Substitute Simon Johnson struck from the edge of the box but James Sharp was on hand to head clear; meaning Matthew Gilks was able to continue as a spectator in the Dale goal.

The home players were clearly frustrated at their predicament and more tasty challenges came in, the referee may have dealt with them more harshly, particularly a very late tackle, again on Gary Brown, this time by David Duke, but he seemed to take pity on the side four nil down and already with ten men.

With eight minutes to go Dale wrapped up the victory and it came to the delight of the Dale bench as young substitute Clive Moyo-Modise scored his first senior goal for the club. Like the other goals it was superbly taken. Dagnall superbly knocked on Brown’s long ball for the rapid striker to latch onto and he calmly turned inside the last man and fired into the bottom corner.

The final action saw Modise left with a superb chance to double his challenge. Fellow substitute Darrel Clarke, who must have particularly enjoyed the evening as a Hartlepool player, produced a superb through ball for Modise to race onto once more. Modise had all the time in the world, which was perhaps too much, and his lacklustre finish flew wide of the post.

However, it did not detract from the most convincing away win that most Dale fans will ever have witnessed. Some Darlington fans would blame the sending off for the result, but even if that were the case, they could have little complaints about the red card for James’ horrific challenge. That, combined with off-field activities, meant that Darlington turned in a display that was as bad as Rochdale’s was superb.

With a run of one defeat in nine games Dale are now sat much prettier in the top half of the table. After winning their last three away games, they will hope they can give their home fans something to cheer by adding to their solitary home win, against Chester next Saturday.

Steve Parkin could not have been more pleased after another terrific away win. He said: “I’m delighted with the great away support, a great team performance and fast flowing football, I can not ask for more. The players need to take a lot of credit for coming here in a very positive mood and we were all confident if we got an early goal then it would prove very difficult for Darlington and that is how it turned out.

“It was important how we reacted to them going down to ten men and I think we did exactly the right thing. We used the ball well, moved it around and that only serves to tire your opponents out. The football was terrific and when the goals start going in there was no way back for Darlington.”