Humphrys hunts down late leveller
ATHIRD humdinger in the space of eight days saw Rochdale share six goals with an inexperienced but game Wigan side at the Crown Oil Arena.
The entertainment levels have gone through the roof for those following Dale games from afar, and the heady mix of frustration and thrills continued.
The dismissal of Jim McNulty halfway through the contest was by far the biggest frustration, given the fact Dale already have central defenders Eoghan O’Connell and Paul McShane sidelined with injury.
McNulty, usually such a calm, measured influence on and off the pitch, had a rush of blood which leaves him out of contention for the next three games.
It came at a time when Dale were 2-1 down at the end of a first half in which
Wigan had been the better side. But the ten men hit back with gusto after the interval, and McNulty was the first onto the field at full time to offer a pat on the back for his teammates.
Having drawn 3-3 with Crewe and then 4-4 at Charlton days earlier, it was clear from the opening minutes of this contest that the goal flow was set to continue.
Aaron Morley had a good chance in the second minute, teed up by skipper Ollie Rathbone after good approach play from Stephen Humphrys and Kwadwo Baah, the midfielder shooting wide from 18 yards.
Tom Pearce went closer at the other end soon after, side-footing a shot through a crowd of players in the Dale penalty area and beating Gavin Bazunu only for Matty Done to be well positioned to prevent his effort finding the bottom corner of the net.
The tone set, Rochdale struck first, taking the lead in the seventh minute. Tendayi Darikwa was lured into a rash challenge on Baah as the youngster cut infield from the left, conceding a free kick in dangerous territory. Humphrys struck his initial shot against the Wigan wall, but collected the rebound, took a touch to his left and blasted a firm shot goalwards which flew past Owen Evans with the benefit of a deflection.
Dale’s lead was wiped out in double quick time, the visitors levelling within two minutes. Dan Gardner drilled a low delivery into the mix where Kyle Joseph reacted quickest, turning the ball inside Bazunu’s near post from close range.
And Wigan were ahead on 16 minutes. Joseph turned provider this time, feeding a short pass into Callum Lang who, with a smart turn in the Dale area, brushed off Haydon Roberts to buy space for a shot which he confidently despatched past Bazunu.
Lang was desperately close to adding a third Wigan goal on 25 minutes when he raced to the back post to meet a probing cross from Pearce, the frontman directing his header down into the ground but sending it wide of Bazunu’s far post – it was a let off for Dale.
Joseph’s cross produced another good opening for Lang at the near post which was blocked, and another blocked attempt soon after brought penalty appeals from the visitors which were waved away by referee Robert Madley.
However, Mr Madley was forced into a decision against Dale on the stroke of half time.
McNulty and Joseph became entangled after challenging for the ball just inside the Dale half, Joseph keeping a leg in which frustrated McNulty and the Dale man kicked out at his opponent – leaving the referee little choice but to pull out the red card.
Having gone down to 10 men, BBM withdrew Kwadwo Baah for the second half, replacing him with Ryan McLaughlin.
Wigan tried to press home their advantage as Joseph fired over from close range at the start of the second period while Bazunu was forced to push over a 25-yard shot from Will Keane.
Dale were improving, however, having been second best in the opening 45 minutes and Jake Beesley headed a Humphrys delivery across the face of goal for Roberts, who couldn’t quite get on the end of it.
There haven’t been too many Dale goals you could describe as route one in Brian Barry-Murphy’s time, but they produced a wonderful example in the 62nd minute when Bazunu thumped a long kick deep into Wigan territory.
The ball bounced once, tempting debutant goalkeeper Evans off his line – but he was too slow to get there ahead of the fully committed Beesley and the Dale man headed into the net despite the efforts of Adam Long, who injured himself in trying to keep it out.
The goal restored belief for Dale and they went close to taking the lead when Done crossed for Humphrys and his glancing header was sent wide of the target.
But it was the visitors who regained the lead in the 77th minute. Keane, with his back to goal on the edge of the six-yard area, was allowed to juggle the ball on his knee, take a touch off the chest and spin on a sixpence to smash a close-range volley into the roof of the net.
Substitutes Stephen Dooley and Alex Newby both saw efforts beaten away by Evans as the game entered a period of seven minutes time added on.
And it was six minutes into additional time that Humphrys swooped, meeting a perfectly flighted McLaughlin cross to head home and ensure a share of the spoils.