Dependable Henderson comes to the rescue

ROCHDALE boss Keith Hill hailed his Mr Dependable Ian Henderson for rescuing a point at Fleetwood Town’s Highbury base.

It had started well for Cod Army boss Joey Barton as Paddy Madden scored his second of the season in the 26th minute, pouncing on a swirling Ash Hunter cross at the back stick.

But Town shot themselves in the foot early in the second half when skipper Craig Morgan was ruled to have fouled Henderson in the box.

Keeper Alex Cairns could not repeat his spot-kick heroics from Fleetwood’s shoot-out win at Crewe in midweek as the attacker powered the ball home in the 50th minute.

Although Fleetwood came back fighting, Hunter’s shot was palmed away by Josh Lillis but only into the path of Ched Evans, who made it two in two in the 56th minute.

It was a fiery affair at Highbury with boos for the referee from the home faithful at the final whistle after Henderson grabbed a point with his last-gasp strike.

Hill praised his star man for recovering and playing on after what could have been a bad injury.

He said: “I think that was an accident. There was no malice from the opponent. It was almost like a car crash looking at it.

“He was very lucky not to be seriously hurt because he was mid-waist straight through the advertising boards.

“His flexibility is good there and he got back onto the pitch, I’d already made my subs. I’m glad he did survive.

“I always can depend on Ian Henderson in times of need and we needed him today.” Fleetwood boss Barton had no qualms about the penalty, but he was unhappy with referee Dean Whitestone.

He felt the official had not made the right call when Wes Burns was one-on-one with Josh Willis in the 87th minute – the keeper appearing to handle the ball outside his box.

The score was 2-1 then, but Barton feels his men need to put the result to bed to avoid refereeing decisions impacting the result.

He said: “You have a one-on-one with the keeper, he comes out of the box, handles the ball and the referee decides the ball had hit his chest.

“I don’t want to moan about referees, but you have to get the big decisions right.”