Rochdale 2 - 2 Dagenham & Redbridge

Ten man Rochdale were denied a third straight win after Dagenham pulled back a two goal deficit. Dele Adebola and Bobby Grant had given Coleman’s men a comfortable 2-0 lead at the interval but referee Mohareb’s decision to send off defender Kevin McIntyre incensed the home side.

John Coleman made one change to the side that beat Rotherham in midweek with Ashley Grimes getting the nod ahead of George Donnelly who dropped to the bench.

The visitors came into the game yet to win this season and it was they who started better. Scott Doe seeing his shot cleared off the line by Grimes.

Seconds later and Dale thought they had opened the scoring when Kennedy’s corner found Ryan Edwards but the big defenders superb volley crashed off the underside of the crossbar.

In a lively opening 30 minutes both teams created chances. Elito should have done better with glancing header which flashed across the face of goal whilst Edwards came close again for Dale when he struck a loose ball inside the area with Lewington pushing his shot wide.

With 33 minutes on the clock a bit of magic from Adebola gave Dale the lead. The much travelled striker picked up on the edge of the area and with seemingly little danger turned and shot beyond Lewington into the bottom corner.

The goal seemed to demoralise the Daggers who had looked quite spritely up until that point.

Bobby Grant doubled Rochdale’s lead with an almost carbon copy goal to Adebola’s. From a similar position on the edge of the 18 yard box, Grant swivelled and picked out the same spot in Lewington’s goal.

The talk at half time was that Coleman’s men needed a third for security and so it proved with the main turning point of the game.

A delightful through ball to Josh Scott split the home defence and with Lillis racing off his line, McIntyre got back to tackle the striker perfectly but referee Mohareb pointed to the spot and in turn sent off McIntyre. It was a strange decision by the official that even the Dagenham management team were mystified at.

Micky Spillane made no mistake from 12 yards to half the deficit.

Dale were rattled and took time to settle with just 10 men. Scott was again played in but fired wide, whilst Hoyte should have scored from six yards out when he sliced his shot horribly wide.

John Still’s side drew level through one of their many set pieces. Striker Sam Williams rose highest to head home off the underside of the bar to make it 2-2.

The game looked to be drifting for a draw but a flurry of late activity could have seen either team take the points.

A weak back pass from Ryan Edwards let in Daggers substitute Dwight Gayle but his lofted effort came back off the post, whilst Phil Edwards fired over from six yards out with the last kick of the game.
 

Three games unbeaten for Rochdale and just one defeat in six games in all competitions but Coleman will certainly feel like it was two points dropped, and with a tough trip to Gillingham next weekend will be mightily disappointed not to win.

“You get bad decisions (from referee’s); Dagenham have had a couple of horrendous ones in recent games it happens in football. The referee didn’t allow the pass through for the penalty; the referee didn’t head the ball into the net for the second one.

"We will govern what we can govern which is our own players.

"I wasn’t happy with the first half, perhaps we would have got a third if we’d kept 11 men but in the end I’m happy with a point.

"We have got to try and up the tempo, we’ve spoke about it all week. We have to be more enthusiastic at home and get the crowd to buy into what we are trying to do. We’ve got to be more dynamic at home.

"We will look at the video (of the sending off) and if we think its worthy of an appeal we will.”

Att: 2120

Rochdale: Lillis, McIntyre, R Edwards, Bennett, P Edwards, Rafferty, Kennedy, Grimes (Pearson 62), Tutte (c), Adebola (Donnelly 46), Grant (Curran 71)

Subs: (not used) Putterill, Craney, Barry-Murphy, Smith

Dagenham: Lewington, Hoyte (Gayle 67), Wilkinson, Doe, Ilesanmi, Ogogo (c), Howell, Spillane, Scott (D J Green), Williams, Elito

Subs: (not used) D Green, Reed, Woodall, Bingham, Seabright

Referee: Mr D Mohareb
Assistant Refs: Mr G Johnson & Mr S Ross
Fourth Official: Mr B Roberts