Rochdale 0 - 1 Morecambe

Rochdale v Morecambe

7 More Image(s) In Gallery

Rochdale were denied a place in the second round of the FA Cup and a trip to The Ricoh Arena to face Coventry City after a narrow defeat to Morecambe in a first round replay. Gary McDonald’s close range finish late in the first half was enough to send the Shrimps through due to a lacklustre performance from Dale.

After a 1-1 draw in the first game at The Globe Arena in which John Coleman’s side were much the better of the two sides, it was a case of rueing missed opportunities and a place in the second round.

Forced into changes to his starting eleven from the weekend due to suspension and ineligibility, Dale actually started the brighter in this encounter.

Matt Pearson, preferred at right back in place of Joe Rafferty, sent a powerful but inviting cross into the area early on but Donnelly and Grimes failed to connect.

The closest Dale came to breaching Barry Roche’s goal came through Dele Adebola after 20 minutes when his looping header was palmed away by the Morecambe stopper.

Ashley Grimes was denied when his curling effort was blocked in the area after great work from Donnelly to make the space.

The visitors took the lead on the stroke of half time when McDonald slotted home from inside the six yard box after Josh Lillis had superbly denied Lewis Alessandra but the ball fell kindly to the Morecambe man.

Dale were temporarily down to ten men when the goal went in as central defender Rhys Bennett was off the field receiving treatment for a hip injury sustained moments before.

The second half was a virtual non event with very few clear cut chances.

Grimes curled a 30 yard freekick beyond the post whilst Andy Fleming should have doubled the visitors lead seconds later with a header that went over from six yards.

With the game nearing its end, Dale threw everything at Morecambe but the closest they came to levelling was an Adebola downward header which was deflected over the bar by Drummond.

So its back to the league for Coleman’s men and with back-to-back home games coming up; the Dale boss needs to find the formula to turn around his side's home form.

Coleman spoke after the game: “I’ve had a go at everybody about the goal. I’ve caned the physio, the supporters, but at the end of the day we should be able to defend with 10 men for 90 seconds.

"I don’t think there was a goal in the game if I’m being honest, Morecambe probably, well actually they did, deserve to win. I thought we were abysmal and we got what we deserved.

"Unfortunately it’s not what the fans deserved. They pay their hard earned money and they deserve a better performance than that. There were only three or four players that turned up whilst seven or so didn’t.

"In all honesty Morecambe shouldn’t be here tonight as we should have won at their place.

"Something is plaguing us at home and I don’t know what it is. With the exception of Peter Cavanagh and big Dele (Adebola), Josh (Lillis) and possibly Kevin McIntyre to a lesser extent, the rest were awful. Losing Bobby Grant was a blow, losing your best player is going to upset you but we should be able to cope; we just didn’t perform. Too many players had off nights tonight.

"The players will have tomorrow off but that will be their last day off before Christmas. We are going to have to address the home form or before we know it we will be slipping down the league table”

Attendance: 1675

Rochdale: Lillis, McIntyre, Bennett (Byrne 45), P Edwards, Pearson, Kennedy (Craney 73), Tutte, Cavanagh (c), Adebola, Donnelly, Grimes ( Putterill 62)
Subs: (not used) Logan, Barry-Murphy, Rafferty, Smith

Morecambe: Roche, Fenton (c), Parrish, McCready, Wright, Alessandra (Parkinson 90), Ellison, Drummond, Fleming, McDonald, Reid
Subs: (not used) Arestidou, Threlfall, Haining, McGee, Short, Doyle

Referee: Mr M Heywood
Assistant Referee: Mr M Griffiths & Mr A greenwood
Fourth Official: Mr R Wooton