Dale stutter to Worcester friendly win

Worcester City vs Rochdale, Match Day Programme Cover

Worcester City 1 Rochdale 2

After spending the weekend training in Gloucester the Rochdale squad faced their toughest test of pre-season on Tuesday 19 July when they completed some difficult fitness tests and then travelled to St George’s Lane to take on Worcester City on what was a very warm summer’s evening.

The quality of football was not the highest from either side and the conditions did not help, with regular drinks intervals being taken by both sets of players.

Rochdale manager Steve Parkin made a few changes to the side that took to the field against Gloucester City on Saturday with Gary Jones and Rickie Lambert both forced out of the game due to injury. Meanwhile trial player Nathan Stanton came into the starting eleven in place of Jon Boardman and after another solid performance, rumours are spreading that the former Scunthorpe man will soon sign a contract to stay at Spotland.

Mainly thanks to Dale’s below par performance, the game was a much closer affair than Saturday’s encounter but as is typical of games against lower league opposition, the League players’ fitness told in the end and a decent second half performance was enough to see them to victory.

The home side had the better of the opening exchanges and it was clear from the start that their front pairing of Adam Webster and Craig Wilding could give the Rochdale defence something to think about. Wilding was the ace in the pack for Worcester and it was he who produced a fine save from Gilks’ in the opening minutes after breaking clear down the right.

After the early scare, the visitors enjoyed lengthy spells of possession but their final ball was always lacking; Alan Goodall in particular was guilty of wasting possession on more than one occasion.

Worcester were creating the better openings but they struggled to test Gilks further as first Webster fired a free-header straight at the Rochdale keeper and then Wilding, with an excellent piece of skill, controlled and fired an acrobatic overhead kick wide of the post.

City continued to enjoy plenty of the ball but a twenty-fifth minute drinks break proved to be a turning point as Dale went ahead moments later for what was a fortuitous and perhaps undeserved opener. The goal came courtesy of a goalkeeping error by Danny McDonnell in the Worcester goal as he spilled Chris Dagnall’s scuffed shot from the edge of the area and the ball fell kindly for Iyseden Christie to tap in.

The goal allowed the visitors to settle and they looked comfortable up to half time, playing some decent possession football which allowed them to create a couple of half chances for first Christie, who shot wide, and then Torquay trialist Lawless, following a defensive mix-up, but he could only find the hand of a well placed McDonnell.

The start of the second half saw Worcester come out all guns blazing and they equalised within three minutes of the restart. After helping out his full back, Alex Lawless gave the ball away deep in his own half, allowing Adam Burley to cross the ball onto the head of the impressive Wilding and he made no mistake with the finish, leaving Gilks routed to the spot.

Rochdale began to awake from their early second –half lapse with half an hour to play and the final stages of the game saw them produce their best football, dictated by the impressive Jon Doolan in the centre of the park and he capped a fine second half performance with a goal of some quality. After picking up the ball on the edge of the area, the former Blackpool player beat the last defender before deftly chipping the ball over the advancing keeper and into the far corner of the net.

No friendly would be complete without a plethora of substitutions mid-way through the second half and this was no exception as Dale switched to a 3-5-2 formation with, amongst others, youngster Callum Warburton coming on for Alan Goodall. Warburton showed some good signs in his short time on the field with a display filled with confidence, combining some good touches with some tough tackling.

This was far from being Rochdale’s best display and they will have to improve considerably if they are to stand any chance in Saturday’s friendly when Premiership big guns Manchester City come to Spotland. This weekend has been of huge benefit to the players, however, and they will come back to Rochdale better for it.

Steve Parkin said that despite a disappointing game there were a lot of positives to be drawn, “I was disappointed with the passing in the first half and we were slack in certain areas and got caught in possession a few times. I’m not sure how much of that was down to fatigue, it’s been very hot and we’ve had four hard days down here.

“The main positive from today was seeing Nathan Stanton for eighty minutes and he is an out and out good defender. Mark Jackson was also very good and he led the team well from the back. Iyseden Christie can be a handful for anybody, he can be frustrating but he is frustrating to mark and he has scored a couple of goals which is important.”