Walsall a class above Dale

Walsall manager Richard Money shows his delight in front of the Walsall fans

Rochdale 0 Walsall 1

Rochdale suffered defeat in their first game of the season at Spotland against a Walsall side that looked more than capable of returning to the division from which they were relegated. Walsall’s excellent rearguard meant that Dale were hardly given a sniff going forward, whilst at the other end the Dale defence coped admirably with the superb Saddler’s front pairing but their extra class showed in the end and the visitors came out deserved winners.

The opening period proved to be a scrappy affair but Walsall were the quicker of the two teams to find their feet and they were looking to get their forwards, Sam and Butler, on to the ball at the earliest opportunity as the pair made some good runs down the channels. The Dale defence would have their work cut out in dealing with the visiting strikers but they coped well up to half-time with Nathan Stanton providing a true captain’s display and often putting his body on the line to win the ball.

It was not all Walsall but the Dale attack lacked the cutting edge needed to trouble Ince. Twice in the opening twenty minutes they were in good position but first, Christie failed to direct his header from Goodall’s deep cross and then Clarke could not find the run of Adam Rundle at the back post and instead found the only covering defender.

Rundle excited the crowd with a good run from inside his own half, which forced the Walsall defenders into reverse gear, and as they continued to back off Rundle had the chance to shoot from the edge of the area and his decent effort was well caught by Ince.

Walsall grew in confidence and continued to develop their flowing moves after Dale all too often lost the ball thanks to the lack of space that the Walsall rearguard afforded them. Gilks was seldom troubled, however, thanks to some resolute defending but the more the visitors saw of the ball the more it looked likely that they would take the lead.

Twice Boardman, who was otherwise solid in the opening period, made mistakes, which fortunately did not cost his side. Hector Sam was the recipient of both Boardman gifts, first losing the ball under pressure, enabling Sam to collect and find Butler, who blazed over the bar, and then the centre-half’s misplaced back pass found Sam, who stretched to try and poke home but Gilks was well placed to save Boardman’s blushes.

With the half nearing its conclusion it looked as though Dale’s ‘backs to the wall’ defending had seen them through safely to half time but it took two superb Matt Gilks’ saves in injury time to ensure that that was the case. The Dale keeper kept out Butler’s shot from a tight angle by tipping the ball round the post and he produced the save the match from the resulting corner, keeping out a bullet header with a spectacular stop.

Rochdale had the first chance to take the lead in the second period after Iyseden Christie was brought down on the edge of Walsall’s area. The fans awaited a trademark Rickie Lambert free-kick and he had Ince beaten with his drive but it flashed the wrong side of the post.

Barely a minute later and Walsall were in the lead after a typically good interchange of passes between Sam and Butler left the latter free inside the area. A defensive lapse by Dale in giving the forwards too much time and space let in Butler and he made no mistake with a calm finish beyond Gilks.

Dale rallied somewhat after the goal and Ince was forced into making his only truly testing save of the game minutes after his side had taken the lead. Again it came from a Lambert free-kick; Ince making a superb stop in tipping the ball away from Lambert’s curled effort.

Dale continued to push and a good run from the hard-working Christie, who was Dale’s best attacking player, gave them their next chance as he pushed at the Walsall defence and then threaded the ball through to Lambert but his shot across goal was deflected wide for a corner.

Walsall survived the minor scare and they created a couple of late chances that would have made the game safe. The best of these came when Butler bundled Stanton off the ball and then fired across the face of goal; Gilks doing well to deflect the ball away from the head of Sam at the far post.

The Dale fans hoped for a late equaliser when the fourth official held up the board to announce that four minutes would be added on but a goal was never going to come and Walsall comfortably saw themselves through to a first day victory.

It was a decent performance in defence from the home side, something which was seldom seen at Spotland last season, but it lacked the creativity to trouble Walsall at the other end.

From this showing it was hard to see what to expect from Dale this season. They were determined and on the whole they defended well against what will be one of the strongest forward lines in the division, but their lack of creativity was a worry.

Christie and Lambert will be a match for anyone but they need one or two of the midfielders to take the game to their opponents and give them some support. Rundle will probably be the best exponent but he was underused in this game; if Dale are to trouble teams in attack they need to get the ball to their danger men more consistently. The team need to show more endeavour if they are to open their account in Tuesday’s game at Torquay.