Dagnall brings Dale level and the play-off party begins

The Dale players celebrate their goal by holding up a shirt in tribute to David Flitcroft's father

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Rochdale 1 (Dagnall)
Shrewsbury Town 1 (Hall)
Rochdale and Shrewsbury played out a one-one draw in the final game of the season.

Asa Hall’s first half header was cancelled out in the second half by Chris Dagnall’s strike following a howler from Shrewsbury keeper Scott Bevan.

The Dale players celebrated their goal by running over to the dugout and holding up a shirt with ‘Flitcroft’ written on the back, in tribute to their assistant manager’s father, who died earlier this week.

Before the game there was a minute’s applause to remember John Flitcroft’s life and Dale boss Keith Hill described what had been a tough preparation for his squad after the game. He said: “It’s been an emotional week and very difficult. You can get lost in 90 minutes of football and that was a good thing for us today. Now we’ve got to play and be brave and hopefully we can go all the way.”

Both sides had their chances to win it but the main talking point after Dagnall’s equaliser was the apparent sending off of Ben Muirhead, only for the referee to change his mind on the red card after consultation with the linesman.

“We wanted to avoid any red and yellow cards, which the referee seemed to be handing out without any common sense and then we’ve got the linesman to thank for sorting out what happened to Ben,” said Hill.

Having already secured a play-off spot Keith Hill gave us younger and fringe team players in the hope of avoiding injuries and suspensions to his first choice side.

Only three players from the starting XI at Bury last week retained their places, goalkeeper Tommy Lee, Simon Ramsden and Chris Dagnall. Into the side came young full back Raphale Evans for his first team debut, Chris Basham, John Doolan, Joe Thompson and Ben Muirhead.

Three other additions came into the team to compete for a place in Dale’s play-off side. With Nathan Stanton suspended Marcus Holness and Nathan D’Laryea contended the spare centre-off spot. Meanwhile, Dale’s top scorer Adam Le Fondre came into the team to compete for a place up front with Dagnall, alongside Rene Howe.

The first half was an even contest and the game had a strong sense of ‘end-of’season’ about it, helped by Dale’s team selection and the many Shrewsbury fans that turned up in fancy dress.

The visitors took the lead midway through the half when Ben Davies’ deep free-kick was glanced into the net by Asa Hall.

Both sides had created some decent openings but aside from Hall’s strike, Scott Bevan was the only goalkeeper to be tested, when Chris Dagnall turned outside two men and fired in a shot from a tight angle that stung the hands of the big stopper.

Dagnall was rightly given the man-of-the-match award for his busy display and he was at the heart of Dale’s next chance when he skipped past two on the right touchline and fired in a low cross that Marc Tierney did well to clear ahead of Le Fondre.

More good work by Dagnall allowed Joe Thompson a shot that flew just past the far post and Muirhead’s goal bound shot just after the visitors had taken the lead was deflected wide.

The home side did not have things all their own in the first half but they emerged strongly in the second and grabbed a deserved equaliser, meaning that Shrewsbury squandered leads in 11 matches away from home during the course of the season.

There was one injury scare for Keith Hill during the second half when Marcus Holness was forced off with a re-occurrence of a calf problem. Keith Hill said it would be touch and go whether or not he would be fit for the play-offs and declared that the problem will need some extensive treatment during the summer.

Dale got their equaliser after a horrible mistake from Bevan who dropped a deep Ramsden cross. Dagnall took the ball beyond the last defender and finished neatly from a tight angle.

There was little goalmouth action after the equaliser but Shrewsbury had a total of three penalty claims waved away by the referee. First James Constable went down under the challenge of D’Laryea, only for the referee to say there was nothing doing, and he repeated the answer when Davies was felled by Ramsden. The third denial came when Danny Pugh fell in front of D’Laryea and this time the referee had seemingly had enough and booked Pugh for diving.

The final chances to win it came the way of the home side. They had a goal ruled out when Dagnall’s deflected shot fell for Le Fondre but he controlled with his arm before putting the ball beyond Bevan.

The last opportunity came to Dagnall, who was in on goal after a Shrewsbury mistake but he could only prod the ball wide past the onrushing Bevan.

At the game’s conclusion the players and coaching staff did a lap of honour in front of the Dale fans and there was a real party atmosphere in expectation of what might be in the next few weeks.

Next stop the play-offs and Darlington away next Saturday.

Attendance:

Rochdale: Lee, Evans, Ramsden, Holness (Bowyer) D’Laryea, Doolan, Basham, Thompson, Muirhead, Dagnall, Le Fondre (Buckley).
Subs not used: Wharton, Brown, Kelly.

Booked: Thompson, Le Fondre, Muirhead.

Shrewsbury: Bevan, Kempson, Pugh (Hibbert) Constable (Madjo), Herd, Davies, Hall, Humphrey, Tierney, McIntyre, Meredith (Leslie).
Subs not used: Garner, Moss.

Booked: Pugh, McIntyre, Meredith.

Attempts (on target): Rochdale 10 (4) Shrewsbury 7 (2)
Free kicks: Rochdale 15 Shrewsbury 17
Offside: Rochdale 1 Shrewsbury 1
Corners: Rochdale 6 Shrewsbury 3

Referee: A Bates.