Rossendale United 0-2 Rochdale (Byrne 42, Andre 45+1)

Keith Hill named a team mainly made up of youngsters and trialists as the Dale fans got a first look at a Rochdale side as the pre-season program got underway with a comfortable victory over Rossendale at Dark Lane. 5 trialists made the starting 11 with former Dale player Alan Goodall playing alongside former Crewe defender Danny O’Donnell. David Buchanan, who has been at Bury for the past 5 years also lined up as did midfielder Matt Done and striker Lucas Atkin.

After a weeklong warm weather training camp in Southern Spain, this pre-season game got underway in changeable weather conditions. Rochdale made all the running in a fairly one sided affair with new signing from Manchester City Jack Redshaw making an early impression on the Dale faithful. His quick thinking and even quicker feet saw him jink his way into the box but fired against the woodwork from an acute angle. He forced the Stags keeper into a smart save just 60 seconds later when he dropped his shoulder and fired a low shot which was kept out low to the keepers right. The youngster should have opened his Rochdale account on 13 minutes after good work from trialist Matt Done down the left. The former Wrexham man found Redshaw but he fired horribly over from 9yards, no doubt the bobbly pitch playing some part.

Rossendale’s only real threat on the Dale backline came with 16 minutes on the clock when some good one touch football around the edge of the box ended with Chris Brown covering well to clear the danger. Redshaw’s game was cut short just before the half hour mark when a rash challenge left him writhing in agony, an injury that later saw the player head to hospital for an x-ray. 2nd year scholar Helio Andre replaced Redshaw and immediately made an impact with his trickery forcing a challenge which resulted in a yellow card for the Stags player.

Hills men took a deserved lead 3 minutes before the interval when young Callum Byrne let fly with a 20 yard effort that whistled in to the top corner with a slight hint of a deflection of trialist Danny O’Donnell. Right on the stroke of half time Dale doubled their lead when sub Andre got the ball on the edge of the box, dragged the ball back before unleashing an unstoppable curling effort inside the far post.

In a largely unforgettable 2nd period Reece Gray played a delightful through ball but Done couldn’t collect and the chance went begging. Andre tried another effort from the edge of the box but this time missed the target. The substitute was again in the thick of things when he sent Matt Done away but the trialist couldn’t finish when through on goal. As the clock ran down, Done did well down the Dale right and put a great cross but the pitch again played it’s part and Gray couldn’t connect.

In a game that manager Keith Hill wouldn’t have taken much from, Dale came away with a comfortable victory. With a game against Fleetwood Town of the Blue Square conference coming up on Tuesday, expect to see the first team players getting their first run out of the season.

Rochdale: Edwards, Brown, Flynn, O’Donnell, Goodall, Byrne, Buchanan, Gray, Redshaw (Andre 28), Done, Atkin

Subs: (not used) Andrews, Benjamin, Roche