Morley’s late, late show for Rochdale
AARON Morley struck deep in stoppage time to earn Rochdale three deserved points at home to Sutton United on Saturday, as Dale recorded a 3-2 win in the first ever meeting between the two sides.
Dale had gone 2-0 up against Sutton’s 10 men, only for the visitors to score two late goals to equalise – but Morley’s 94th minute strike secured the points at the Crown Oil Arena.
There were two changes to the side that lined up against Salford City midweek, as Jim Mcnulty and Aaron Morley came in for Jeriel Dorsett and George Broadbent, respectively.
Early on, Abraham Odoh worked tirelessly inside the 18-yard box to keep a move alive before laying the ball off to Morley who fired wide first time.
Soon after, there was a superb save from Dean Bouzanis to deny Jake Beesley’s stooping header. The Sutton United goalkeeper got down to his right to pluck away the effort on the line as it looked set to nestle in the bottom corner.
Sam Graham then stabbed Morley’s corner wide of the far post.
Captain Eoghan O’connell sent a speculative effort at goal from 30-yards, but bent it wide, before Odoh’s curling shot looked certain for the far corner, only for a visiting defender to get a touch on it, to divert it away from the target.
Meanwhile, in a rare moment in front of goal, the Us’ Will Randall fired well over from just inside the area.
But Dale’s deserved opener came in the 23rd minute in brilliant fashion. Liam Kelly arrowed a diagonal ball over the defence into the path of Newby, who lifted the ball over the Bouzanis and into the back of the net.
Three minutes after the goal, Sutton broke away and Randall got a shot off, but Joel Coleman was equal to it, getting down low to hold.
Dale were in again soon after, though, and Newby saw his dangerous shot from the edge of the area deflected up and over the bar. Beesley then had an effort deflected wide, before O’connell struck past the post from the edge of the 18-yard box. In stoppage time, Coleman held Richie Bennet’s header from a Joe Kizzi cross.
A minute later, the Us were reduced to ten men when Bennett was shown a straight red card for an apparent stamps on Beesley’s midriff.
And with the last action of the half, Graham headed over Newby’s right-field cross.
Rochdale continued to dominate the second half as they had the first, and they turned the screw as the period progressed.
Three minutes after the restart Kelly played in Newby who cut inside and found Odoh, who fired over from 12-yards.
The visitors’ Donovan Williams, on the break, then struck an effort inches wide of Coleman’s upright. In the 53rd min
‘Morley struck deep into stoppage time’
ute, Newby agonisingly had a goal ruled out for offside, after he superbly volleyed home Kelly’s clip over the top from a free-kick.
After a good, sweeping move forward, Newby laid the ball off to Beesley, who saw his first time strike kept out by Bouzanis, who held the effort.
Newby then had a shot deflected wide, before Dale’s deserved second came in the 66th minute. Morley had picked out O’keeffe on the right and he headed back into the middle, where Kelly struck first time into the bottom corner.
Rochdale’s first substitution of the game followed after the goal, with Cashman replacing Odoh.
And moments later Beesley was denied on the line. After Newby had chased down a through ball, he cut back into the area from the byline and Beesley, who got ahead of his marker, saw his poke turned away.
Two further changes came six minutes apart, as Keohane made way for Aidy White, and Conor Grant came on for Newby. In between the substitutions, Dale had continued on the ascendancy, with Cashman seeing a shot saved by the legs of Bouzanis from a tight angle, while Beesley turned Kelly’s corner wide at the near post.
It looked like two late goals had earned the visitors a point, as they netted twice during the last 10 minutes.
They halved the deficit in the 82 minute when Isaac Olaofe turned home from close range after Coleman had initially saved a corner from a header. And Alistair Smith equalised for the Us eight minutes later.
But Morley struck deep in stoppage to secure a well-deserved three points. A ball into the area was cleared as far as Morley who fired into the bottom corner from 20-yards.
ROCHDALE manager Robbie Stockdale has reflected on a dramatic stoppagetime win over Sutton United at the Crown Oil Arena.
He said: “I’ve just said to the players that I don’t know if I’m ecstatic, frustrated or angry – it’s a whole mix of emotions, but obviously I’m so pleased to come out of the other end with three points. It was fully deserved I think.
“We dominated the game for large periods. I know the extra man can help [Sutton were reduced to ten men just before half-time], but at the same time it can make it difficult to break down the opposition and we have to be patient.
“We did that, and, albeit it for a mad few minutes with two setplays, we win comfortably. But credit to the players – to have that knock and then to go and win it, it’s a fantastic feeling.”
He continued: “I thought we were good throughout the game. People will say that we dominated the game against ten men, which we did, but it is difficult to break that down and you have to be clever and be patient. Could we have passed it a little bit quicker at times? Yes. Could we have used the width a little bit more? Yes. But we were still finding good opportunities.
“Honestly, I’m still quite lost for words but for the players to then show character and to go on and win it is a massive positive for me.”
Alex
Newby opened the scoring in brilliant fashion.
Liam Kelly arrowed a diagonal ball over the defence into the path of Newby, who lifted the ball over the Bouzanis and into the back of the net.
Provider Kelly then turned goal scorer as he struck from Corey O’keeffe’s knock down, while Aaron Morley won it for Dale right at the death. “The first goal – I’ve worked in the Premier League and it wouldn’t look out of place there. The ball, the run and the finish were really, really good. We want to try and play in behind teams and that’s a perfect example.
“The second goal with Liam, you see his quality on the ball and it’s another fantastic finish.
“And [then the
● THE boss bemoaned set-piece goals in the thrilling 3-2 win over Sutton. United netted twice in the last eight minutes from corners to draw level after Dale had comfortably opened a two-goal advantage. “Two set-plays, that’s how they’ve managed to do it [get back into the game]. “The first one creates a little bit of anxiety around the ground and within the players. We highlighted to the players where Sutton’s strengths were and throughout the game in the main we handled those set plays really well. “It’s not very often you see goalkeepers taking free-kicks in opposition halves and just loading the ball in but that’s their way, which is absolutely fine and we dealt with them really well. “We just didn’t do that in the last 10 minutes. “But I would rather focus on the positive aspects of our game today. We had some really, really good performances and we won a game, so we’ll take that.” And the gaffer confirmed that Jeriel Dorsett missed the game due to illness. third one]. I spoke to Aaron after training yesterday – he scored a couple of goals like that in training and with his ability he should be hitting double figures for us. If he can add that to his game he’ll soar and go on. When I came here, in my first interview I said I wanted to entertain the fans and today was all part of the plan”, he joked.
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