Under-par Dale are comfortably beaten by Bees
BARNET ............................. 2 ROCHDALE ....................... 0
ROCHDALE suffered a 2-0 defeat on the road at Barnet on Tuesday evening.
A brace from Callum Stead was enough to seal a defeat on the road for Dale – in truth, the margin of victory could have been more comprehensive.
Jim Mcnulty made three changes from Saturday’s game at Ebbsfleet United.
Ian Henderson returned to the starting eleven alongside Finlay Armstrong, who’s had his loan extended until the end of the season, whilst defender Dan Sassi made his first start for Mcnulty’s side.
Corey Edwards came back into the squad, featuring on the bench as Devante Rodney dropped out of reckoning completely.
Barnet started on the front foot early on and were offered a significant leg up when Gatlin O’donkor pounced on Ethan Ebanks-landell’s early mistake and punished Dale within the first minute. O’donkor squared the ball for Stead to tap home from close range.
Both sides had their chances following the opening goal, with the skipper – who was very impressive on the night after his first-minute slip – nodding one off the line following Tiernan Brooks’ save before Cian Hayes saw a shot narrowly travel wide of the post.
Just after 20 minutes, Jimmy Keohane had the ball in the back of the Barnet net after being played in by Hayes, but the linesman’s flag denied the Irishman.
Keohane was then on the wrong end of another decision by the officials as the referee adjudged the 33-year-old of handling the ball in the Dale penalty box.
Brooks dived to his left and denied Zak Brunt from the penalty spot, keeping the scoreline at 1-0.
The hosts had the visitors pinned in for long stretches as the Dale goal led a charmed life, Barnet troubling them with a couple of balls across the face of the box. Reece Hall-johnson’s pass went behind O’donkor who was running in at goal.
Jordan Cropper was next to go for goal but his headed effort narrowly went wide from the corner.
Hayes tested the Barnet keeper once again at the other, forcing him to push wide a low effort towards the end of the first-half, but come the halfway
point Dale were fortunate to still be in the contest, trailing by just the solitary goal.
The hosts had a couple of chances following the interval, but Dale defended well and kept The Bees at bay.
Hayes forced Josh Keeley into action once more, with the shot-stopper flicking a hand at the Dale man’s effort, pushing it wide of his goal.
With less than 20 minutes to go, Stead grabbed his second and doubled Barnet’s lead.
Brooks got down well to deny the first effort, but he
could only push it as far as Stead, who had the simple task of placing the ball into an unguarded net.
Ryan East and Sam Mather, who made his Dale debut coming off the bench in the second-half, both had chances, with one shot getting blocked and the other flashing over the bar.
Dale continued to press in the dying minutes of the game but couldn’t break the Barnet defence down.
Brooks, Gordon, John, East, Ebanks-landell, Mitchell, Keohane (76’ Uchegbulam), Hayes, Sassi, Armstrong (69’ Clayton), Henderson (69’ Mather).
Unused subs: Nevett, Edwards. ●●THE Youth Team were beaten 3-2 by Carlise United in the EFL Youth Alliance League on Saturday.
Darren Ehimamiegho and Oscar Kelly scored Dale’s goals as the Youth Team were narrowly beaten away from home.
That result leaves Dale in sixth place in the league, still with a number of games on the teams above them.
Lee Thorpe’s side will be looking to bounce back as they travel to Oldham Athletic this weekend.