Huddersfield Town 2-2 Rochdale

Rochdale stay rooted to the bottom of League One despite twice coming from behind to earn a battling draw at promotion chasing Huddersfield Town. Andrew Tutte sent Dale in at the break level after firing in an unstoppable shot from an acute angle just 20 seconds after Danny Ward had put the hosts into the lead. Former Dale loanee Jordan Rhodes netted his 33rd of the season 3 minutes after the interval but substitute Ashley Grimes secured a point with 8 minutes remaining.

There were 2 changes to the starting 11 from the midweek game at Carlisle. Jean Louis Akpa-Akpro had a hamstring strain so wasn’t risked whilst Nicky Adams was dropped to the bench. Stephen Jordan & Andrew Tutte started.

The home side started the day 2 points off the top 2 and with the home fans expectant of the 3 points against the bottom of the table team, the Terriers players set about the Dale goal from the off. In the opening 25 minutes, Town had hit the crossbar twice through Scott Arfield & home skipper Antony Kay whilst Kay forced a smart save from Dave Lucas when played through on goal. Kay also saw a snap shot from outside the area pushed over by the Dale keeper.

Kevin Long headed straight at Smithies in the home goal after good work from Holden in Dale’s only real foray forward in the opening 30 minutes.

Referee Webb had a big decision to make with 11 minutes left of the half. Lee Novak’s pulled back from the left found Arfield but Joe Widdowson stopped the ball on the line with lot looked like a hand but the official waved play on.

Huddersfield looked threatening on every occasion they attacked. Novak curled a shot wide whilst McCombe saw a header saved low down by Lucas.

Dale managed to repel any Town attacks  but as the board went up to indicate 1 minute of stoppage time at the end of the first half, Simon Grayson’s men edged in front. A long throw on the left by Morrison was punched clear by Lucas but the ball dropped to Ward who smashed home from 18 yards.

With the home fans still taking their seats after celebrating the goal and many Dale fans heading for half time refreshments; John Coleman’s side were back on level terms. Kennedy’s intelligent run and pass to Symes gave Tutte room to hit a Symes pass first time into the top corner from a very narrow angle and stun the home support.

The second period started with Dale still buzzing from the late action in the first half but their smiles were soon dispersed when Jordan Rhodes popped up with Huddersfield’s 2nd just 3 minutes after the re-start. Novak’s run down the right allowed him the space to pick out Rhodes at the back post who slid the ball home.

After that, Grayson’s men seemed content to sit on their lead. Jordan sliced over when he should have done better as Coleman’s men pushed for a leveller.

The Dale boss replaced Dean Holden with new signing Phil Edwards just after the hour mark, much to the disgust of Holden. The defender refused to shake hands with the management team on returning to the technical area whilst a bit of pushing and shoving was dealt with by stewards.

Coleman brought on Ashley Grimes with 15 minutes remaining and Dale’s leading scorer netted the leveller 8 minutes later. Jordan’s lofted ball forward was headed down by Symes and Grimes volleyed the ball beyond the reach of Smithies to make it 2-2.

It was a battling performance from Dale and one that showed if they are to go down come May then they will go down fighting. In isolation, a point away at Huddersfield is an excellent point but in the bigger picture, it may not be enough.

Oldham at Spotland is the next fixture for Coleman’s men and fans are reminded this is another ALL TICKET game with no tickets being available on the day of the game on police advice.

Coleman spoke afterwards:  “Whatever the result today I would have been delighted with the team. If we’d lost that game 2-1 i would have been happy with their performance. I thought we deserved what we got today; we showed tremendous appetite and tremendous spirit to come back twice. To anybody that wrote us off during the week, I want them to have a rethink. The fans have been superb and again today they travelled in numbers. They had spirit and they saw the players play with lots of spirit. Anybody that writes off a team with such spirit does so at their peril. I thought we defended really well second half. Take out the goal and I don’t they caused us too many scares. We showed a steely determination and if we show that from now until the end and we get a bit of luck we should pick up some wins. Tutte played well and scored a great goal. He’s a good footballer. I thought Stephen Jordan was excellent today too. Our second goal will be one of the best goals you will see today. Symes had it tough today. Playing up on his own we didn’t get the right service to him but when Grimes came on he had somebody to work with.”



Att: 13715

Rochdale: Lucas, Darby, Holden (P Edwards 61) , Long, Widdowson, Barry-Murphy (Grimes 74), Kennedy,

Jones (C ), Jordan (Adams 89), Tutte, Symes

Subs (not used): M Edwards, Bryne

Huddersfield Town: Smithies, Hunt (Naysmith 49), Woods, McCombe, Morrison, Gudjonsson (Johnson 73), Kay (C ), Ward, Arfield, Rhodes, Novak (Lee 84)

Subs (not used): Bennett, Roberts

Referee: Mr D Webb

Ass Referee: Mr L Metcalfe & Mr T Peart

4th Official: Mr M Jones