Rochdale 1 - 2 Morecambe

Rochdale’s six game unbeaten run in the league came to a halt as Morecambe ran away worthy winners at Spotland. Former Dale loanee Jack Redshaw scored a brace with George Donnelly a consolation late on.

Club captain Peter Cavanagh was preferred in midfield to Jason Kennedy who dropped to the bench in the only change to the side that beat Accrington seven days ago. Andrew Tutte kept the captain's armband after the recent good run under his leadership.

Morecambe arrived at Spotland needing points to climb away from the bottom of League 2; against a side that they had never beaten in a competitive match.

The Shrimps started the game very brightly with full back Andy Wright fizzing a shot wide and Redshaw was also off target when he should have done better.

Dale would have taken the lead but for a wonder save from Roche. Rafferty put a dangerous ball into the area which flicked off a defender to Adebola but his diving header was somehow kept out by the visiting keeper.

Lillis was forced into a low save from Fleming but couldn’t do anything to stop Redshaw giving Morecambe the lead. Ellison picked up the ball after indecision by Cavanagh in the middle of the pitch and fed Redshaw, who made no mistake from just inside the area.

Dale were rattled and lucky not to be two down when Ellison’s shot deflected off Phil Edwards and off the post.

Rafferty and McIntyre looked Dale’s best chances of an opening with both full back putting decent balls into the area. Rafferty whipped a lovely ball into the six yard box which forced Haining into action with the captain almost turning the ball into his own goal.

McIntyre almost grabbed an equaliser when his deep cross came back off the far post, hit the keeper but dropped the wrong side of the post.

Coleman’s men came out for the second half much brighter. Adebola made headway into the area after beating two men but his shot was saved and Tutte curled a shot narrowly over from 22 yards.

Just as Dale were beginning to get a foot-hold in the game, Redshaw pounced to double Morecambe’s lead. Ellison again was involved when he jinked his way into the area before feeding the diminutive striker at the back post to slot home.

Donnelly halved the deficit with 17 minutes remaining when he glanced home a Rafferty cross and almost snatched an unlikely equaliser minutes later. The former Macclesfield striker’s mazy run inside the area freed him space but his shot was wayward.

Morecambe skipper Haining thought he’d sealed his sides win in stoppage time but his 40 yard free kick crashed back off the crossbar.

Rochdale drop one place to sixth in the League and will have to sort their home form out if they are to be in the reckoning at the top end of the table come May.

John Coleman spoke afterwards: “I’m disappointed with the first half performance, I thought we were woeful. We had a good chance early on but the keeper made a wonderful save, then we have let them in.

"We didn’t start the second half like we should and they’ve got a soft second goal.

"On the balance of chances I would say it was even. Their keeper has made two wonderful saves; ours hasn’t had made any.

"The fans got restless after 10 minutes and it became a downward spiral. The players don’t help the fans and the fans don’t help the players, which is a recipe for disaster.

"Tuttey was unbeaten as a captain so he kept the armband.

"I don’t think the substitution [bringing Jason Kennedy on] made that much difference; and I’m not knocking Jason in that by the way, he’s a very good player who hasn’t been playing well in last couple of games. I think we would have got back into the game without Jason.

"We were always going to give it a good go last half hour but it wasn’t to be. We missed a couple of good chances and could have had a penalty.

"The turning point of the game was the challenge by Kevin Ellison in the first 10 minutes (on Peter Cavanagh), I’ll have to see it again but from where I am it wasn’t a good challenge and he didn’t even get a yellow card. The same lad goes on and makes two goals. There was another bad challenge on Kennedy which wasn’t given and the irony was they scored directly from that.

"We go to Plymouth with confidence and it might be a lesson for the fans that we seem to be playing better away from home.”


Attendance: 2493

Rochdale: Lillis, McIntyre, R Edwards, Bennett, P Edwards (Kennedy51), Rafferty, Grimes, Tutte (c), Cavanagh, Adebola, Donnelly
Subs: (not used) Watson, Pearson, Craney, Barry-Murphy, Byrne, Smith

Morecambe: Roche, Fenton, Mustoe, Haining (c), Wright, Alessandra (Brodie 62), Ellison (McReady 86), Drummond, Fleming, McDonald, Redshaw (Burrow 87)
Subs: (not used) Arestidou, Reid, McGee, Parrish

Referee: Mr N Miller
Assistant Refs: Mr R Jones & Mr W Smallwood
Fourth Official: Mr M Duncan