A positive point
STRIKER Joe Bunny was among the travelling support on Saturday to see Rochdale claim a useful point against play-off rivals Fleetwood Town at Highbury Stadium.
It was the Dale’s second consecutive nil-nil draw, but after the recent glut of enforced team changes and resultant dip in form, back-to-back clean sheets will please the manager.
Hill elected to utilise his squad and make five changes to the line-up that started against Bristol Rovers a week earlier.
Niall Canavan and Andy Cannon came into the defence, while Jamie Allen, Nathaniel MendezLaing and Joe Thompson all enjoyed returns to the starting eleven.
The transitional period Hill has spoken about recently may be ongoing, but on the evidence of this performance it is increasingly clear the players’ confidence is returning.
A point against a side who are unbeaten in 14 in the league can only be viewed as a positive return in Rochdale’s promotion bid, and there can be more positives to take into the following week.
“I think it was an even game, I thought we controlled possession for large amounts of it, and the first half I was really pleased the way we played and contained the opposition,” said Hill.
“I think it is a valuable point, we had an intention to win the game, I changed from last week because I was uncomfortable with the nil-nil score line but this week I am very comfortable with it.
“We have players here who are still catching up, but overall it was a worthy clean sheet.”
Like the stalemate against Bristol Rovers, Hill opted to use Joe Rafferty as the anchor of the midfield, which allowed the technical Oliver Rathbone and skipper Ian Henderson to see more of the ball in the centre of the park.
The front line of the visitors proved a lot for the home defence to handle as the ability of Thompson, Mendez-Laing and Henderson to interchange meant there was space in behind Fleetwood’s back three.
Despite Uwe Rosler’s side enjoying the early spells of possession the home side were unable to breach the muchimproved back-line of Rochdale.
Dale soaked up the pressure well and this prompted several counters from the visiting side. Henderson saw his curling effort stray just wide of the frame but it was Mark Kitching who had the first effort on target.
The dangerous fullback tried his luck from 20 yards out, stinging the hands of goalkeeper Alex Cairns but to his credit the opposition goalkeeper saved well.
With a quarter of the game gone, Kitching again tried his luck from some way out, but unlike his previous effort this one sailed way over the bar.
As the half came to end, each side was struggling to really put their stamp on the game. The tactical battle within the midfield epitomised a good half of football as the sides went in for the break.
Dale came out in the second half electing to bring on the clever and
‘We have players here who are still catching up but overall it was a worthy point’
strong presence of Calvin Andrew for Thompson. Andrew, whose hold-up play is a big feature of his game, sported a protective mask following a cheekbone fracture sustained in the FA Cup tie