Dale reignite their momentum as pitch solutions fall into place

 

Harvey Gilmour ran the midfield against Aldershot.

Back in October, I wrote that a defining trait of any good side is its capacity to bounce back. Up until that point, Rochdale AFC had embodied that resilience perfectly, responding to every setback in the most convincing manner possible: with victory.

The trip to York, however, delivered the harshest chastening of the campaign so far. A brutal 15-minute collapse condemned Dale to a 4-1 defeat, the sort of loss that lingers. That made the next fixture against Aldershot − now under the stewardship of former Dale manager John Coleman − a genuine test of their mettle.

Even the build-up carried its own drama. The inflatable pitch covers, brought in by the club’s ownership group to protect the surface from the worst of Storm Claudia, had done their job − though the pitch still resembled more of a cow field than a footballing stage.

It was also one of the fixtures included in the National League’s new 3Up campaign − an initiative I’m fully supportive of, with the greater upward mobility provided by three promotion places only serving to strengthen the entire pyramid.

Jim McNulty made one change to the starting XI, as Connor McBride replaced the injured Tyler Smith. There was also a welcome return to the matchday squad for Joe Pritchard, who had been missing through injury since August.

What followed, however, was a scrappy, disjointed first half on a surface the players never quite managed to decipher. The weight of pass was a guessing game, and yet Dale still found themselves in promising positions in the final third − only for the final ball to fall short or the finishing to lack conviction. It was surprising, too, that Coleman had brought his team to play rather than contain, and the Dale midfield of Harvey Gilmour and Ryan East found themselves pressed in a way they had not been used to on home turf this season.

The second half was a different story. The much-needed substitutions injected not only energy but a noticeable shift in mood. Jake Burger’s brief stint at left wing-back immediately gave Aldershot more to think about, stretching them in ways Dale hadn’t earlier.

Aidan Barlow, just on the pitch and immediately looking sharp, took the ball on the half-turn and slipped a neat pass into Tobi Adebayo-Rowling on the right. The low cross that followed had trouble written all over it, and Gilmour arrived on cue to thump it in from the edge of the six-yard box. And once the breakthrough came, the follow-up changes helped see the game out with a measure of control.

Further up the pitch, both Mani Dieseruvwe and Devante Rodney would have known there is more to come from them. The fact Dale are finding goals from other areas of the team is encouraging, but it shouldn’t lessen the responsibility on their shoulders in games such as this.

Devante Rodney puts the Aldershot defence on the backfoot.

It was heartening, too, to see Ethan Ebanks-Landell shrug off his York nightmare with a return to form. He and Sam Beckwith were excellent throughout.

This team has shown it can win games in all manner of circumstances, and this was another example: a hard-earned victory against an Aldershot side who are surely better than their league position suggests. The win took Dale to 40 points for the season, a figure reached in only 17 games, which beat the previous quickest of 20 games in 2009/10.

A trip to Tamworth the following Saturday was the next competitive action for Dale. The Lambs, while considered one of the National League's smaller sides, occupied ninth spot in the table and had secured a tenth-placed finish the previous season. Their narrow plastic pitch had proven an extra man against many bigger opponents over previous seasons and here it was also wet and slippery thanks to the wintry weather conditions in Staffordshire.

McNulty rang the changes once again with his starting XI. It had been remarked upon after the Aldershot game that, sooner or later, the freshness brought onto the pitch from the bench was going to be needed from the start of a match and, Casey Pettit in particular, had made the strongest case for inclusion from the opening whistle. McNulty gave him that nod here over Ryan East.

Tobi Adebayo-Rowling saw plenty of the ball against Tamworth.

Elsewhere, Devante Rodney had to miss out due to, as McNulty confirmed, the No.10 suffering post-match when playing on an astroturf-type service, so Aidan Barlow joined Connor McBride behind Mani Dieseruvwe. Tarryn Allarakhia returned from international duty to replace Kevin Berkoe, who was recalled from his loan by Salford City earlier in the week.

Kyron Gordon’s third goal of the campaign sent Dale into the interval with a deserved lead, and Dieseruvwe’s coolly dispatched penalty midway through the second half extended their advantage.

The hosts later clawed one back when the defence switched off, setting up a tense finale for the travelling Dale faithful, but McNulty’s side held firm.

The performance, in many respects, was one of the more impressive of the season. Dale's control of the ball − and the speed with which they regained it − was outstanding. The Harvey Gilmour–Pettit partnership shone, a blend of defensive steel and offensive intelligence that gave Dale a platform to build from. Out wide, the wing-backs provided consistent width and a steady stream of deliveries into the box.

And yet, for all that good structure, Dale still relied on Dieseruvwe's penalty to make the difference. Without it, Dale could easily have let points slip. The chances were there − and good ones at that. Barlow, Pettit and Dieseruvwe all had first-half opportunities that really should have resulted in more meaningful efforts on goal. Dale do take shots, despite some narrative to the contrary; the issue was that, at times, they weren't shooting well enough.

The build-up was good, the positions were good, the volume of attacking play was good… but the final touch lacked ruthlessness. Dieseruvwe, even with his goal and a few ‘nearly’ moments, still needed to do more to truly unsettle defenders. Dale were getting the ball into dangerous areas, but not turning that into the kind of scoreline their play deserved.

Defensively, there was plenty to admire. Ebanks-Landell was back to his imperious best and Kyron Gordon was outstanding at both ends of the pitch, his influence far greater than any praise could properly convey. However, the unit as a whole switching off for Tamworth's goal was an avoidable blemish. Still, the bigger question wasn't so much about the back line − it was about how clinical Dale could become at the other end. The York match had shown why Dale had to make the most of their chances; this game showed they were still creating more than enough of them.

Mani D coolly converted his spot kick against Tamworth.

The result put Rochdale back at the top of the National League and, in the grand scheme of things, that was the headline. A crucial away win, three points secured, job done. Yet anyone who watched the game would have known that beneath the satisfaction lay a familiar frustration: Dale creating enough to win matches more comfortably, but not putting teams away when the openings came.

There was then the distraction of the final National League Cup group game before Rochdale could return to league action, with Everton’s under-21s visiting Spotland. Most supporters were watching less for the result and more to see how the pitch coped and, to its credit, the surface held up reasonably well. The night also proved useful in footballing terms, giving Joe Pritchard valuable minutes on his return from injury − capped with an assist − while Bryce Hosannah made his Dale debut. Tom Myles impressed in goal, and Levi Amantchi deservedly took home the man-of-the-match award. In the end, it was Jake Burger who settled the contest with the only goal. Despite the win, Dale exited the competition, though it was a conclusion few were overly concerned about.

Levi Amantchi was MoM against Everton's U-21s.

Ahead of Dale’s next league fixture, the hosting of Eastleigh, the Ownership Group announced it had once again hired inflatable dome pitch covers, no doubt at great expense (reiterating just how much this club would struggle with the involvement of the Ogden family).

The club then issued a further statement that underlined just how precarious the whole situation with the pitch had become. In short: the surface wasn’t just struggling, it was failing. Waterlogging had already wiped out two fixtures, and the deterioration had been so sharp that the club openly admitted what we supporters all suspected – there was “no confidence” in getting through the season without drastic intervention. The inflatable MacLeod covers, useful as they’ve been, were essentially described as a sticking plaster over a much deeper problem.

So, with the surface getting worse by the week, the club had secured permission from the National League to do something rarely seen at this level: a full mid-season pitch rebuild. Not a tidy-up, not a partial relay − a complete strip-down to the drains, installation of new drainage and gravel layers, and the laying of a new profile topped with a HERO hybrid carpet that will be playable immediately. The work, guided by consultants OBI, is expected to take four to five weeks.

It begins straight after the rescheduled Southend game on 7th December, and it means two league fixtures − Hartlepool (30th December) and Brackley (3rd January) − will have to be played elsewhere. The club say they’re in advanced talks over an alternative venue and aim to confirm details before the diggers roll in. The plan is to return to Spotland on 24th January for the visit of Truro City.

The message was clear: this is expensive, disruptive and far from ideal. But with the pitch in its current state, the club believe it’s the only viable route to ensuring the season can be completed properly. And, if all goes to plan, Dale will not only emerge with a playable surface for the run-in, but with a pitch finally capable of matching the ambitions being built on it.

The pre-Eastleigh announcements weren’t done there, either. The club brought in left wing-back Ryan Galvin on loan from last season’s National League winners Barnet. This was a positive move. It gave McNulty three solid options in that position but with the bonus that Joe Pritchard and Tarryn Allarakhia can play in other positions. In a previous blog, I referred to Pritchard as the new Jimmy Keohane and we were about to see more of that.

Tarryn Allarakhia can play in several positions.

In less welcome news, the club then announced that goalkeeper Oliver Whatmuff had suffered a quad injury against Tamworth and was facing being on the sidelines into the New Year. To their credit, the club reacted quickly. In came Nathan Broome on a short-term loan from Bolton Wanderers − a 23-year-old with a background shaped by some of the country’s strongest academies. On paper, he looked a smart, agile keeper with the sort of grounding that should allow him to adapt quickly. He was handed the number 25 shirt, and it didn’t take long to see why McNulty had moved quickly to secure him.

So to Eastleigh − another potentially awkward fixture on a pitch deteriorating by the day and with a side forced into changes. Yet Dale began with purpose. Joe Pritchard, starting for the first time since returning from his knee injury, offered intelligence and balance on the left. Ryan Galvin, newly arrived from Barnet, had to wait his turn from the bench, but his presence added further depth to the wing-back options. And then there was Tarryn Allarakhia, who immediately looked like the game’s most dangerous player.

The first half should have yielded more. Dale racked up corners, dominated territory, stretched Eastleigh in every conceivable direction − and still somehow went into the break goalless. Ryan East, restored to the XI at the expense of the impressive Casey Pettit, drifted wide right to great effect, linking superbly with Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Kyron Gordon and Devante Rodney. On the opposite flank, Pritchard and Tarryn Allarakhia knitted with an understanding that felt remarkably natural for a first start together. The balance was good, the patterns flowed, and yet the score stubbornly refused to budge. But for a terrific save from debutant Broome – who looked instantly comfortable with the ball at his feet and calm under pressure – Dale could even have found themselves behind against all logic.

The pressure finally told after the break. Allarakhia, who had tormented Eastleigh all afternoon, got his reward when his driven cross was diverted into the far corner by a defender. From that moment, the only question was how many Dale would win by. The introductions of Connor McBride and Aidan Barlow added fresh energy and further discomfort for a retreating Eastleigh back line, and it was no surprise when Allarakhia added a second – cushioning a volley beautifully into the top corner after another well-worked move down the right.

Celebrating against Eastleigh - a squad together.

Could Dale have scored more? Absolutely. They were dominant and, once again, the only frustration was the familiar one: the scoreline didn’t quite reflect the control. But, in context, the positives far outweigh the nitpicking. A reshuffled side, a debutant goalkeeper, and still Dale played with a level of quality and depth that simply hasn’t been seen at Spotland for years. The winning machine rolled on, and McNulty’s men stayed top of the Enterprise National League table with a fully deserved three points.

The only concern is that Dale’s title rivals are matching them stride for stride, leaving those two games in hand as the only immediate advantage. Making the most of them may well define the entire season.

Many thanks again to The Voice of Spotland/Dan Youngs/Rochdale AFC for use of images.