Christie miss costs Dale dear

Torquay players enter the field ahead of the game

Torquay United 1 Rochdale 0

Dale made a fruitless long journey to Torquay on Tuesday after a late Lee Mansell goal gave the home side all three points and left Steve Parkin’s men with no points and no goals to show from their first two games of the season.

Torquay had the most of the chances but it could have been so much different for Dale if Iyseden Christie had scored what looked to be the simplest chance of them all from barely a yard out. Christie missed and his side paid the ultimate price thanks to Mansell’s late winner.

The game saw Steve Parkin make two changes and a change of formation to the side that lost its first game of the season against Walsall. Lee Crooks made his Rochdale debut in place of Jon Boardman at centre half, whilst Chris Dagnall replaced Adam Rundle as Parkin adopted a four-three-three formation; Dagnall slotting in alongside Lambert and Christie up front.

The game got off to a lively start with both sides missing two excellent opportunities within the first two minutes. Alan Goodall picked the ball up in space on the left for Rochdale and his cross was met by the head of Chris Dagnall but he placed his header just wide of the mark with home keeper Nathan Abbey scrambling across his goal.

Torquay settled after the early scare and missed a golden opportunity a minute later. Good interplay between Lee Thorpe and Lee Mansell allowed the latter to stroll all too easily through the Dale rearguard. Mansell had all the time in the world to pick his spot but his weak effort was well saved by Matthew Gilks, tipping the ball around the post.

Torquay were into their stride and they built up plenty of pressure on the visitors but without further troubling Gilks in the Rochdale goal. A Mickey Evans long-range effort was well blocked by Stanton before Garner fired just wide from the edge of the box.

Torquay failed to make the pressure tell and Dale should have taken advantage when an inch perfect Rickie Lambert cross found Christie clear of his marker only 6 yards from goal but the striker failed to hit the target with his header, much to the relief of the home side.

Dale looked to have settled down and their midfielders were given a lot of time and space on the ball but they seldom used it to their advantage as the Torquay defence regularly swept up Dale’s attempted final pass.

Having seemingly settled into the game the visitors were quickly unsettled as Torquay squandered two more excellent chances as the half drew to a close. First, Mansell was again the guilty party has he blazed over from Evans knock down and then Evans himself missed what was the Gulls best chance of the half as a long ball over the top caused the Dale defence problems and left the tall striker in on goal but he could only direct his volley over the bar.

The home side continued were they left off in the second half and Evans again found himself in front of Gilks after bundling his way past a couple of challenges. This time the Dale keeper was beaten by Evans powerful drive from an angle but the ball hit the outside of the post and went wide.

Following Evans’ near miss, Dale had the better of proceedings and produced a couple of half chances before Christie’s guilt-edged miss. First, Christie’s header bounced to Cooksey but he hooked his volley wide and another volley, this time as the ball fell to Doolan from Lambert’s half cleared free-kick, was well held by Abbey as the ball raced through a crowd of players.

Now onto Christie’s chance: A long ball had the Torquay defence in all kinds of trouble and when it bounced over the advancing Abbey it looked certain that Dale would score but Christie, under pressure from a covering defender, somehow poked the ball over the bar from barely a yard out, to the shock of the 156 travelling fans behind the goal.

The visitor’s host of missed chances prompted Steve Parkin to say that, “If we’re going to pick points up we’ve got to start hitting the back of the net and we can’t complain about the chances that we’ve had today.”

Dale were well on top and with the Torquay threat seemingly nullified it looked as though the visitors would at least take a point from the encounter but a defensive lapse in the eighty-seventh minute cost them as Mansell marched onto a loose ball which the Dale defence had numerous chances to clear and slammed it past the helpless Gilks from eight yards out. Parkin explained that, “It was Ernie’s [Cooksey’s] job of tracking his [Mansell’s] runs but when he’s gone in for the tackle a toe from Alan Goodall has knocked it right into his path and when things are not going for you, they’re the kind of things that happen.”

The visitors were never going to come back from the late goal and Dale had been made to, somewhat undeservedly, pay for Christie’s squandered opportunity. There certainly hasn’t been a lack of effort from Steve Parkin’s men in their two opening fixtures but a lack of quality in the final third and two defensive lapses have meant that their points and goals tallies remain untroubled.

Steve Parkin spoke after the game about how he thought his side deserved something from the game: “It’s really disappointing for the players and for the supporters who’ve travelled down to watch us. We’ve now got to pick ourselves up and start all over again. The players gave me everything they’ve got again but we’ve got no points to show for it.

“I don’t think we deserved to be travelling back up the motorway with nothing. I think if you get beat and you thoroughly deserve to get beat sometimes you just have to hold your hands up but I don’t think today we did and I saw the reaction in the dressing room was one of, very much, despondency.”

It does not get any easier for Dale either, as their next opportunity to get off the mark comes with Saturday’s trip to League Two promotion hopefuls Swindon Town. The early signs are that this season could be a long hard drag for Rochdale.