Respect aplenty for Dale efforts

ROCHDALE may have suffered defeat against Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley, but the club was heaped with praise on social media for their efforts throughout the 90 minutes.

There was a national outpouring of admiration and respect when Keith Hill’s men earned a 2-2 draw at the Crown Oil Arena two weeks ago, and while the scoreline eventually reflected Spurs’ superiority, Twitter was quick to acknowledge the League One outfit’s role in the game.

The first half was far from one-sided and proved one of the most entertaining televised matches of the season so far.

Yes, the VAR controversy played its part, but Dale gave as good as they got in a thrilling first 50 minutes or so!

“We had a rollercoaster of a first half,” said Dale chief Keith Hill.

“It could have been 2-1 to us but it could have been 5-1 to Spurs. They were brilliant in the game.

“We tried to play a game of football instead of trying to protect ourselves.

“The scoreline was probably going to be the same even if we sat deeper, but we took them on and rode our luck.”

And it was Dale’s willingness to have a real go which earned them praise, with Tottenham supporter Nick Davison admitting the lower league opponents had made a ‘huge impact’ on him.

Others expressed their delight at seeing Joe Thompson on the Wembley surface following his battles with cancer.

Some famous faces also had plenty to say about the controversial moments involving VAR during the match and there was plenty of love for the Dale! Here are a selection of tweets about the game.