Crucial victory slips out of Dale’s grasp
KEITH Hill’s men missed the opportunity to move out of the bottom four after conceding a late equaliser against Bradford City on Saturday at the Crown Oil Arena. Rochdale conceded a goal in the dying minutes meaning the home side only took one point from the game with all three in sight.
League seasons may be 46 games long but standout moments and fine margins can define a campaign. Rochdale will be hoping their fate isn’t decided by the decisive moments that have taken place in the past two games.
On the back of Joe Rafferty’s penalty being saved against Oldham four days earlier, an uncharacteristic error from goalkeeper Josh Lillis left Bradford striker Charlie Wyke with the goal at his mercy and with an invitation that he duly dispatched to earn a point for Simon Grayson’s team.
Dale had led for essentially half the game on Saturday and the feeling inside the stadium going into the final minutes was a positive one as a win would have catapulted the club out of the relegation zone for the first time since mid-December.
Keith Hill had named an unchanged side from that Oldham game going into Saturday’s fixture unbeaten in two matches.
That meant Calvin Andrew continuing to lead the line up front alone in the absence of the suspended Iain Henderson, with Brad Inman the most advanced midfielder in support.
Rochdale were on top for the majority of the first half and it was Andrew who created the best opportunity to break the deadlock 21 minutes in. The former Crystal Palace striker muscled out Bradford defender Nathaniel Knight-Percival at the byline, forcing himself into the box and picking out Oliver Rathbone only for Timothee Dieng to intervene with a welltimed tackle, denying Rathbone the chance to get a shot away.
The final ball was the only thing lacking from an energetic first half from Dale but the breakthrough did come four minutes before half time. Andrew made a nuisance of himself from a long ball upfield and the ball fell to winger Joe Thompson, his cross found Inman at the back post and he played in Matty Done who had time to steady himself and dispatch a fine finish into the top right hand corner.
Bradford almost equalised immediately after through Matty Lund, making his return to Rochdale, but his shot from eight yards out hit his own man after good work from City captain Tony McMahon.
It was a frantic end to the first half with Inman hitting the outside of the post after he turned a lost cause across goal with City keeper Colin Doyle expecting the ball to run out of play.
Bradford had the better of the second half, aided by the introduction of Nicky Law for Kai Brunker, but failed to really test Josh Lillis with anything of note.
Dale changed to a 5-3-2 with Done and Rafferty operating as wing backs and manager Hill would have been pleased to see the alteration helped to solidify things at the back.
The game was filtering out with Dale supporters not to be blamed for enjoying the fact their side would have been out of the relegation zone with the win.
Out of nowhere a Stephen Warnock cross was dropped under little pressure by Lillis in the 91st minute with Bradford’s hitman Wyke on hand to dispatch into the empty net.
The dropped catch is symbolic and metaphorical in terms of the dropped points for Dale.
With Oldham, AFC Wimbledon and Walsall also all dropping points at the weekend there was still positives to take from the result.
Dale’s fight for survival is still in the balance.
Lillis, Rafferty, McGahey, McNulty, Delaney, Thompson (Humphrys 74’), Camps, Rathbone (Ntlhe 51’), Done, Inman (Gillam 85’), Andrew. . Subs not used: Wiseman, Moore, Morley, Dobre.
Doyle, McMahon, Knight-Percival, Kilgallon, Warnock, Gilliead, Vincelot (Poleon 77’), Dieng, Lund (McCartan 85’), Brunker (Law 54’), Wyke. Subs not used: Chicksen, Raeder, Devine, Patrick. Ollie Yates
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