Dale repelled as
TWO early goals proved a mountain to climb too far for Rochdale, despite a dominant second half display from the home side.
They were frustrated by their own inability to close off the various chances created and, in Bristol goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola, an inspired performance from the opposing number one.
A share of the spoils would have been richly deserved – but the Dale players will acknowledge they cannot give visiting teams two-goal starts like this and expect to salvage something every time.
Aaron Wilbraham’s suspension saw Ian Henderson return to the starting line-up while Luke Matheson, fresh from signing his first professional contract, started on the right of defence with Jimmy Keohane dropping to the bench.
In the opening minutes, a raking pass forward from MJ Williams found Henderson on the edge of the area and he almost paved the way for Callum Camps to take on a shot only for the Bristol defence to scramble the ball clear.
Dale’s progress was pegged back when the visitors took the lead in the eighth minute, Bristol scoring from their first corner of the game. Liam Sercombe’s delivery to the back post was nodded back into the mix by Tony Craig and Victor Adeboyejo, inside the six-yard area and with his back to goal, hooked the ball past Jay Lynch.
Rovers were two up in the 11th minute courtesy of an own goal, Eoghan O’Connell diverting a vicious cross from Michael Kelly past Lynch.
Henderson was close to pulling one back when he collected a fine pass from Matt Done, cut inside from the right and sent a curling effort towards the bottom corner of Anssi Jaakkola’s goal, the goalkeeper diverting the ball wide with his fingertips.
Two goals to the good, Rovers were able to hold their formation without taking risks when Dale had possession, and as a result it was tough on the home side to get in behind them – prompting one or two impatient groans among ‘gerrit forward’ contingent.
A fine move from Dale, involving Luke Matheson, MJ Williams and Ollie Rathbone, ended with Rhys Norrington-Davies clipping the ball into the run of Henderson, the striker, just eight yards from goal, agonisingly close to connecting with the ball.
But a lengthy stoppage around the half hour mark, following an injury to assistant referee Helen Byrne, took the sting out of the game and the contest was played out in sedate fashion for a period. It looked for all the world as if the teams were heading in at the break with no change to the scoreline until Dale worked a breakthrough in the 43rd minute.
Matheson raced into space on the right flank before serving up a decent centre for Rathbone. He nodded the ball into the path of Camps and the midfielder showed strength and determination to get his foot to the ball and poke it wide of Jaakkola.
During the additional five minutes of first half time added on Sercombe tested Lynch when he advanced into the area and blasted goalward, the Dale stopper getting behind the shot to prevent Rovers restoring their two-goal advantage.
The home side turned up the heat after the interval. MJ Williams saw a piledriving effort from 18 yards charged down by
Kelly early in the second half and that was his last notable contribution as he made way for the returning Rekeil Pyke on 63 minutes. The frontman, an unused sub against Oxford, was quickly into