Rovers strength
ABLACKBURN Rovers side quickly acclimatising to life in League One proved too strong for a patched up Rochdale line-up.
Keith Hill insisted Rovers were simply better, and on the day it was impossible to argue with that.
But it was equally impossible to overlook the difficulties facing the Dale chief in sending out a team strong enough to give such opponents a contest.
Hill was still without the services of Keith Keane, Callum Camps and Calvin Andrew, and as if that didn’t hit the spine of the team enough, Ian Henderson was suspended following his dismissal at Southend the week previous.
On the positive side, Joe Bunney returned to take his place at left back with Joe Rafferty dropping to the bench. Welcome a sight as Bunney was, he needs games to get up to full speed.
Hill handing a debut for Donervon Daniels at right-back while Harrison McGahey and Jim McNulty were paired in the centre of defence with Niall Canavan the man to drop out.
The midfield three of MJ Williams, Mark Kitching and Andy Cannon remained the same as at Roots Hall, Oliver Rathbone at least fit enough to make the bench, while Steve Davies replaced Henderson up top, playing down the middle with Jordan Williams and Matty Done operating either side of him.
It was a much brighter start to a game than the Crown Oil Arena had witnessed two weeks earlier against Bury, and this time played in a charged atmosphere.
Dale had the better of the opening minutes with Bunney and Jordan Williams linking well on the left and Done close to picking the pocket of Elliott Ward for what would have been a one on one with the goalkeeper had he not been pulled up for a foul on the Rovers defender.
But the visitors took the lead in the 10th minute when Richie Smallwood’s run from deep was not tracked sufficiently and he was allowed to run onto Elliott Bennett’s cross from the right and volley the ball past Brendan Moore from eight yards completely unchallenged.
Marcus Antonsson, from the left of the penalty area, curled an effort wide of the far post and an error or judgement from Bunney set Dom Samuel free down the right, his crossshot palmed over by Moore.
Done saw strong claims for a foul by Ward waved away by the referee having appeared to have outfoxed the defender and for a period around the half hour mark the traffic was all heading towards the Rovers goal but with no clear chances to speak of.
Craig Conway forced a save out of Moore at the other end, though his low drive was never really a threat.
Conway’s next contribution, three minutes into the second, carried genuine danger – a driven cross which deflected off Samuel’s heel to take it away from Antonsson who would have otherwise been left with a tap in.
‘I can’t and won’t give up on the players but Blackburn were better, simple as that’
Davies and Cannon almost capitalised on a raid down the right flank, Cannon’s cross from the byline cut out and Rovers scrambling clear before Kitching could reach the loose ball.