Tight Tykes friendly was ‘worthwhile’

ROCHDALE’S behind closed doors preseason friendly against Championship side Barnsley on Wednesday afternoon ended in a narrow 2-1 defeat.

The Tykes took a two goal lead into the interval, before Aaron Morley netted a second half penalty, in the highly competitive fixture at the Crown Oil Arena.

The visitors opened the scoring on 13 minutes, when Carlton Morris glanced a header into the far corner from a free-kick sent in from the right.

They extended their lead seven minutes later through Liam Kitching who rose highest to meet a cross to the back post.

Morris headed over a short later, while number Cauley Woodrow curled an effort over from 25-yards after picking up a loose ball and striding forward before getting his shot away.

There were nine changes at the break and Dale went onto halve the deficit seven minutes after the restart from the spot after Abraham Odoh was upended inside the area.

Morley stepped up to take the penalty and coolly fired home.

Shortly after the hour Barnsley’s Elliott Simoes headed narrowly wide of Lynch’s upright, before Ollie Rathbone had an opportunity to equalise.

The midfielder did brilliantly to get into the area and flashed a strike across goal that went narrowly wide of the far post.

Lynch made way for Brad Wade on 71 minutes, while Kacper Mialkowski replaced Trialist B a short time later. In between the two substitutions Odoh had burst into the box but Bradley Collins got down to gather at his feet.

The forward was involved again on 78 minutes as he an effort kept out by the ‘keeper.

Late on, Morley played a fine ball through to Jordan Scanlon who pulled it back for Mialkowski, but the stretching scholar couldn’t quite get the decisive touch after sliding in.

Having taken charge of the side for the first time – albeit a warmup match – new gaffer Robbie Stockdale said: “It’s another good run out for us against another very strong team,. They were a couple of games away from playing in the Premier League last year and they haven’t lost many of their players – Alex Mowatt’s left – but not many more, so it was a good challenge for us. We can take positives and we can take negatives out of it, it’s a typical pre-season game.

“It’s going to take a little bit of time, but the players are really open to that. When you are working with two different teams and two different shapes because of personnel, it can be difficult.

“The staff had already put a plan together in terms of that, but in fairness I’d have done the same thing. They’re almost glorified training games. We can have them in-house but it’s so much more competitive against another team. The players ticked the boxes in terms of that.

“All I asked from the players was application, do the right things at the right times and decision making, and I think more times than not we got that right.

“We’ll get better, but overall, it was a very worthwhile game for us.”

Next up, Dale welcome Fleetwood Town to the Crown Oil Arena, for what will be the first game in front of home supporters since March 2020.

“I’m really looking forward to seeing the supporters back in. I’m sure it’s been on their mind for a long time to get back into the ground,” said Stockdale. “Hopefully they enjoy their day, everybody is safe and happy, and the players put on a good performance for them.”

FIRST HALF XI:

Lynch, Keohane, O’connell, Trialist A, Trialist B, Brierley, Kershaw, Grant, Newby, Jesus, Beesley.

SECOND HALF XI:

Lynch ( Wade 71), Scanlon, Mcshane, Mcnulty, Dunne, Trialist B (Mialkowski 78), Morley, Dooley, Rathbone, Done, Odoh.