Dale drought continues at rain soaked Spotland

The captains and match officials line up for the pre-match photo

Rochdale 0 Notts County 1

Rochdale continued their run of 1-0 defeats after a one goal reverse at home against Notts County on a day when Spotland saw miserable weather coupled with miserable football.

It could have been argued that Dale had been unlucky in collecting no points from their first three fixtures but that could not be said as the home side ran up another loss; Notts County bossed the fixture and whilst they could have scored more than their solitary strike, it became increasingly certain throughout the game that the home side would end it with a “nil” in their goals tally.

The visitors gained the initiative from an early stage and whilst Dale’s defence battled as hard as it has in all of Dale’s opening games there became an increasing sense that if the Magpies threw enough at it, they would at some point break through the Dale backline, open the scoring and from there the result would never be in any doubt.

The surprise was that it took the visitors until the second half to score that goal after squandering numerous opportunities in the opening period. The first came with eight minutes played when Nathan Stanton’s stumble on the slippery surface and the resultant short back pass let in Parkinson, who bore down on Gilks, only for the Dale keeper to continue his excellent form with a superb block to deny the former Grimsby front man.

Meanwhile at the other end, the Dale forwards were unable to build on the hopeful long balls of the defenders as the play continuously bypassed the home midfield. As quickly as it was punted forward the ball was coming straight back at the Dale defence as County built their attacks through the ball playing pair of Ian Ross and Dan Gleeson.

In former Notts Forest forward Jason Lee and Junior Mendes the Magpies had a frontline capable of causing trouble, which is more than could be said of Dale’s equivalent, Christie and Dagnall, who continued to labour with little in the way of service.

Even when they did get a glimpse of goal the lack of confidence that comes with over 270 minutes of goalless football showed; Chris Dagnall seemed reluctant to shoot in space on the edge of the box and when he did get his shot away it was drilled horribly wide.

Steve Parkin focussed on the fact that his first choice front two had offered his side very little, “The front two never gave us anything, they never gave us any work rate. They allowed [Notts, centre-half Alan] White to dominate and if you are going to score goals and create anything then the front two have got to be prepared to do more work than they’ve done this afternoon.”

As poor as Dale’s performance was they were not helped by some equally poor refereeing decisions. They were fortunate to escape when the referee gave a corner to the visitors after the ball had clearly ricocheted off a County player and again when he gave the Magpies a free-kick for reasons that surely only the official himself had knowledge of.

Not content in helping out County in attack he thwarted what might well have been Dale’s only clear cut chance of the entire game. Stanton’s through ball split the County rearguard and with both Dale strikers for once well placed and with the linesman’s flag not raised it looked as though Dale might awake Pilkington in the Notts goal into making a save, or perhaps even open the scoring. The referee thwarted all such opportunity by blowing for an innocuous foul on Stanton after the ball had been played.

The visitors finished the half as they started it; with Parkinson missing another golden opportunity to put them into the lead. Good interplay by him and Mendes carved open the Dale defence and Parkinson faced Gilks once more. Again the Dale keeper stood up to the task, saving the forward’s near post shot with an outstretched leg.

The halftime whistle was greeted with boos from the home fans, clearly discontented at Rochdale’s lack of creativity. Notts should have been one or two goals clear, whilst at the other end their own goal went completely unthreatened.

Notts continued where they left off as the second half began and it was not long before they took the lead. The warning signs had been there when Lee could only direct a header straight at Gilks from a Mendes cross and Lee’s aerial threat proved to be Dale’s undoing as he won the ball from a Ross free kick and it fell kindly for Alan White to fire home.

From there on there was only going to be one result as Dale looked completely incapable of finding the back of the net. The home side did muster a late rally after the introduction of young and willing forwards Joe Thompson and Clive Moyo-Modise for the ineffective Dagnall and Christie and the home fans were roused to cheer a flurry of late chances.

First, it became clear that Kevin Pilkington had become bored with his role as a spectator as he picked up a White backpass. Even the lacklustre home attack was able to hit the target from an eight yard free kick and Pilkington was forced to divert John Doolan’s low shot away.

With time running out Dale were finally stringing some passes together and they won a flurry of late corners, testing the nerve of the visiting defence for the only time in the game.

Ernie Cooksey had Pilkington scrambling with a thirty yard shot that dipped just over the bar, whilst the final action of the game saw Joe Thompson win a header from a corner and the ball fell to the feet of fellow substitute Clive Moyo-Modise only for the youngster to snatch his shot wide of the upright. It would have been a goal that the home side had done little to warrant.

After the game Steve Parkin acknowledged that this had been Dale’s worst performance of the season so far, “I’ve told the players that it’s totally unacceptable. People are paying good money to come and see us compete. I think the fans have been different class today, I think that they had every right to get on my back and the players’ back after five minutes really and they didn’t I said at half time that the players were very lucky that they hadn’t.”

The main question is; how long will that luck hold out? There were distinct murmurs of discontent from the Spotland faithful both at half time and at the final whistle. The most worrying thing for the club is that if such performances continue those fans may start voting with their feet and sub 2000 attendances may be on the horizon, the knock-on effect being that the manager’s budget would have to be further reduced at a time when he would be looking to make further additions to his small and injury-hit squad.

For the time being however, these problems can be put on the back burner as Dale take a much needed respite from their League plight to compete in the League Cup. A cup run could be just the antidote for the poor league form and would bring the added bonus of some big money if Dale were to draw a plumb tie. The only problem is that they must first overcome an away trip to League One big spenders Doncaster Rovers in the first round. It never rains, but it pours.