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| Kyron Gordon in action against Scunthorpe. |
The second half of the year’s shortest month brought
Rochdale another four fixtures to mirror the first. The first was a game in
hand: a home meeting with Scunthorpe United, postponed back in November when
the condition of Spotland’s pitch had been the worst of Dale’s concerns.
Scunthorpe, like Rochdale, were a club more readily
associated with the Football League than with non-league exile. Yet, like Dale,
this was where they now found themselves. Unlike Dale, however, Scunthorpe had
failed to halt their slide after relegation, tumbling into the regional leagues
before clawing their way back. Under Andy Butler, they had stabilised,
returning to the National League and inserting themselves into the promotion
picture, fourth at kick-off and already responsible for unsettling several of
the division’s leading contenders.
For Dale, the stakes were straightforward. This was
one of two games in hand. A draw or a win would return them to the summit,
above York City. In the end, and but for a contentious penalty decision and a
lack of clinical edge after the interval, the single point they collected might
easily have been three.
Five changes were made from the Saturday draw at
Yeovil Town, as Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Harvey Gilmour, Devante Rodney, Joe
Pritchard and Dan Moss all returned to the starting XI.
It was a first half that never quite settled into rhythm
yet rarely lacked incident. Within minutes Emmanuel Dieseruvwe was tripped by
the last man 10 yards inside the visitors’ half. However, despite referee
Darren Drysdale awarding a free-kick, there was no card shown to Will Evans.
This set the tone from an officiating point of view.
Scrappy passages followed, loose touches and hurried
clearances, but also spells where Dale pieced together some fluent sequences
and worked their way into promising areas. Dieseruvwe looked certain to turn
home Rodney’s cross after superb work from the Dale No.10, but couldn’t divert
goalwards. Scunthorpe, to their credit, committed men forward and ensured it
was a genuine contest.
The visitors struck first. A poor clearance from Kyron
Gordon ricocheted off Harvey Gilmour, the loose ball falling kindly for Callum Roberts,
Scunthorpe’s danger man who forever seemed to lurk on the right ready to cut in
on his left foot. Dale’s defence retreated rather than engaged, affording him
the space to set himself before arrowing a strike beyond Oliver Whatmuff from
outside the area.
Then came the game’s most contentious talking point − if
not the season’s. Dale had the chance to respond almost immediately from the
spot, after Dieseruvwe was brought down, only for controversy to take centre
stage. Dieseruvwe paused during his run-up and the referee then awarded a
free-kick to Scunthorpe instead. It was a bewildering moment and one that may
yet carry weight beyond this game. The question lingered: why the hesitation?
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| Referee Darren Drysdale tries to explain his position. |
McNulty answered post-match. “I’ve never seen anything
like what happened with the penalty,” he said. “I very rarely go in to see
officials, but I did tonight. Mani [Dieseruvwe] is in the middle of taking the
penalty and the referee is screaming at people on the edge of the box. For me,
you should have this completely under control before you blow the whistle. Mani
shouldn’t be running in to take a penalty while the referee is shouting and
ushering.
“The referee felt Mani stopped his action. My take was
Mani jogs up to the ball, hears shouting, thinks he has to wait, jogs past it,
then prepares to take it again. The referee then gave an indirect free kick,
but I don’t think there was clarity as to why he did. I got the sense [he and
his fellow officials] didn’t know what had just happened.
“The referee’s assessor has since told me he believes
a mistake was made − that Mani should be booked for not striking the ball but
should be allowed to take the penalty again.
“I’m disappointed the officiating team didn’t know the
rules on that. With what’s at stake, they should know. If something happens
you’re unsure on, you take time, communicate and find the right solution. It’s
worrying when they don’t know what the solution is in that moment. It’s had a
massive impact on the game.”
To their credit, Dale did not allow frustration to
consume them. The equaliser owed everything to industry and intelligent
movement, the underlapping run creating the space and the opportunity that the persistence
deserved. Kyron Gordon took a touch and delivered a low ball in. It caused
issues in the box and, without hesitation, there was Ryan East to place it
home. In a half of uneven quality but high drama, parity felt a fair reflection
− even if the defining moment had come and gone.
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| Ryan East at least eased Dale frustration. |
Where Scunthorpe made a genuine contest of the first
half, the second was played almost entirely in their territory. Dale pushed
them back, sustained pressure, and asked question after question.
Yet the same flaw that surfaced at Yeovil reappeared:
no decisive touch, no one to force the ball over the line. The control was
there, the territory was there, but the clinical edge was not. Set pieces,
especially corners, were not up to the usual standard either.
A draw was enough to send Dale back to the top of the
table. And yet, as the final whistle blew, the overriding feeling was of what
might have been.
It was a similar feeling to when Rochdale visited
Woking earlier in the season. There they found a side, and particularly a
goalkeeper, very difficult to breach, despite being the dominant side. The
result was a goalless draw that, to this point, represented the only game in
which Rochdale had failed to score that season. Woking arrived at Spotland for
the reverse fixture in no better position than they had been that day,
languishing in the lower third of the National League, and, after two
consecutive draws and York’s relentless form, it was felt that another blank
simply could not be afforded.
In the end, there was no ambiguity. A
3-0 victory that felt routine in the way only genuinely good teams can make it
feel. Both joy and relief were palpable around Spotland at the full-time
whistle.
Jim McNulty’s lone change saw Jake Burger come in for
the injured Aidan Barlow, with Tyler Smith returning to the bench. The rhythm,
though, was unchanged. Dale started fast, as they have so often done, and
thought they had struck inside four minutes when Emmanuel Dieseruvwe turned in
Callum Perry’s delivery, only to see the flag raised. It was a warning shot
more than a setback.
Kyron Gordon’s afternoon had a brief farcical
interlude when, after being clipped as he surged into the box, he was instead
booked for simulation by referee Steven Copeland. Three minutes later, justice
arrived in a more tangible form: Joe Pritchard’s corner arced to the back post,
Gordon timed his run impeccably, and his header powered past Woking keeper Will
Jääskeläinen. The moment had the inevitability of a training-ground routine
finally executed in anger.
The second goal came eight minutes later. A move built
from the back ended with Ryan East threading the ball into Dieseruvwe, whose
first touch took him away from his marker before he wrong-footed Jääskeläinen
and side-footed the ball calmly into the bottom corner.
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| Mani D knows where the goal is against Woking. |
Woking never truly threatened to disturb the pattern.
Dale controlled territory and tempo, with overlapping centre-backs Gordon and
Perry in particular providing the thrust that kept the visitors pinned back.
There was a pleasing balance, too: plenty of progression down the right, but
with Dan Moss’s late arrivals from the left forcing the Woking defenders into
uncomfortable decisions, a dynamic that would later earn its reward.
That reward came in the 73rd minute, when Moss was
tripped as he shaped to shoot. Penalty. After the midweek drama from the
spot against Scunthorpe, there was a flicker of narrative tension, but
Dieseruvwe dismissed it with clinical efficiency, burying his second of the
afternoon and extinguishing any remaining doubt.
Beyond the goals, this felt like a mature performance.
Burger, an irresistible magnet for fouls, slowed and accelerated the game at
will, even if he occasionally lingered too long on the ball. Set pieces looked
dangerous again. Devante Rodney was quieter than in midweek but worked to knit
himself into Dieseruvwe’s orbit. Most reassuringly, the defence rediscovered
its familiar solidity, a clean sheet that mattered as much psychologically as
it did mathematically.
Woking were poor on the day, but poor teams still need
beating. Dale beat them with minimum fuss and maximum control, an eighth win in
ten that kept them perched at the summit.
They would stay there, at least until the following
Tuesday, when they crossed the Pennines to face old rivals FC Halifax. The West
Yorkshire side had inflicted one of Dale’s four league defeats in the reverse
fixture − other than against Hartlepool, the only one they had suffered at home − so there was a sense that
something was owed.
Halifax, meanwhile, were smarting from a 4-1 humbling
at York City, a result that left Dale’s advantage in the National League at a
solitary point, a lead that eroded upon full-time at The Shay.
Devante Rodney had given Dale a half-time lead before
Tyler Smith doubled the advantage late on. However, 87th and 92nd minute goals
from the hosts saw them claim a point in dramatic fashion.
Jim McNulty made two changes to the starting line-up
from the 3-0 win over Woking. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling and Aidan Barlow both
returned from injury, replacing Joe Pritchard, who had a tight hamstring, and
Jake Burger.
There was a sense, at half-time, that Rochdale had
navigated the most awkward part of the evening.
Halifax had started the sharper. The first chances
fell to the hosts and Dale were required to be alert early on, throwing in
timely blocks and staying switched on under pressure. It was not a dominant
opening, but it was a mature one. Gradually, Dale found a gear.
The key lay down the right. Time and again, the space
between Halifax’s centre-back and left-back was exposed. Once Ryan East began
driving forward with conviction, the game tilted. His perfectly weighted
through ball on 15 minutes released Devante Rodney, who burst into the area and
finished powerfully in off the near post. It was a goal born of spotting a
weakness and repeatedly probing it until it gave way.
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| Kyron Gordon gets a cross in against Halifax. |
From there, Dale grew into the contest. Rodney was
central to everything, stretching the line, threatening in behind, and creating
uncertainty. Kyron Gordon’s downward header was superbly kept out by Sam
Johnson, and Rodney flashed another effort across the face of goal from an
unforgiving angle. The narrow lead at the break felt deserved, though far from
decisive.
The second half followed a similar rhythm. Halifax
carried threat − Oliver Whatmuff was called upon to make important saves,
notably from Will Harris and Josh Hmami − but Dale continued to look the more
incisive side. The defensive unit remained disciplined, bodies on the line when
required.
When the second goal arrived, it seemed to settle
matters. Harvey Gilmour drove through the middle and fed Connor McBride, whose
saved effort fell kindly for Tyler Smith. After an initial denial, Smith forced
home the rebound, aided by a deflection on the line. At 2–0 late on, Dale had
surely sealed the points. Surely.
And yet, football rarely follows the script a beguiled
writer begins drafting in his notebook.
Harris reduced the arrears in the 87th minute,
altering the atmosphere in an instant. Whatmuff had palmed the initial shot
from David Kawa into the unmarked forward’s path and he easily steered home.
What had felt composed now felt fragile. Then, in stoppage time, former Dale
loanee Cody Johnson delivered the ball into the box. Kawa headed it on into the
path of Lavery, who struck decisively in the 92nd minute. From comfort to
disbelief in the space of five minutes. Two sloppy goals conceded in a fashion
very unlike that seen so far by the 2025/2026 Rochdale side.
For long stretches, Dale had shown discipline and
attacking intent, weathering the early Halifax pressure and exploiting the
space down the right with purpose. Yet even at 2–0, this was not a performance
flowing in its usual rhythm. The early withdrawal of Adebayo-Rowling disrupted
the balance, with Bryce Hossanah introduced at right wing-back. His struggles
there prompted a further reshuffle, Dan Moss switching flanks in what felt like
little more than robbing Peter to pay Paul − solving one problem while creating
another.
‘In terms of the game plan, we had Tobi out there,’
McNulty said afterwards. ‘He starts the game and then has to limp off with an
injury. He’s got a slight hamstring situation there which we’ll assess. It’s an
unforeseen and unfortunate change.’
The change unsettled the structure, and the removal of
Emmanuel Dieseruvwe before the hour compounded it. With no natural outlet to
hold the ball up, possession returned too quickly and too frequently. The
control that had underpinned much of the evening became increasingly fragile.
The warning signs were there, even before Halifax struck.
But the failure to see out the final moments ensured
the night would be remembered less for its good points and more for its sting.
A point gained on paper. Two points lost in reality.
York City, as had become habit, won yet again. This
time, 3-0 away at Scunthorpe which meant, even if Rochdale should win their one
remaining game in hand, the title was still in the Minstermen’s own destiny
with the two teams due to play each other on the season’s final day.
Tobi Adebayo-Rowling would not be the only defensive
issue McNulty would need to assess, as centre-back Liam Hogan, understudy to
Ethan Ebanks-Landell for much of the season, left to join fellow National League
side Morecambe.
‘An opportunity came for Liam beyond this season,
which is not something that would ever have been guaranteed at this football
club,’ McNulty admitted. ‘Speaking to a 37-year-old man with a family who’s
given his all for us, there’s a human element to this that you need to
consider. That is a position we will look to bolster and recruit immediately.’
If the fatigue of February’s relentless schedule was indeed
beginning to tell on the Rochdale squad, then the prospect of travelling to
Aldershot Town just four days later would scarcely have lifted spirits. Managed
by former Dale boss John Coleman, the Hampshire side had lost just once in
their previous 12 matches, and there was a growing sense that Rochdale had
faced them at precisely the right moment earlier in the season − when Coleman
was still finding his feet, but already imprinting a resilience that would soon
make Aldershot difficult to beat.
There had been a touch of fortune in Dale’s 1–0
victory at Spotland, and even on that afternoon there was a hint that Coleman’s
side were on an upward trajectory, destined to climb further up the National
League table.
After the late sting at Halifax, there was a
psychological hurdle to clear, but clear it this Rochdale side did. A 2–0
victory, secured by an eighth brace from Emmanuel Dieseruvwe, the most by one Dale
player in a season since 1946/47, extended the unbeaten run to 12 and once
again underlined the resilience of this team.
Jim McNulty made one enforced change, Joe Pritchard
replacing the injured Tobi Adebayo-Rowling. The shape remained familiar. The
intent, at least initially, was less so. The first half was scrappy. Aldershot
were determined to turn the contest into something fractured and chaotic,
particularly in and around Dale’s penalty area. Loose balls, second phases,
awkward deliveries − it was clear the hosts had identified disorder as their
ally. When Dale did win it back, the instinct was to break, but too often
promising moments were undone by basic passes going astray. Retention, not
incision, was the issue.
Yet this side carries a striker who requires little
invitation.
The opener stemmed from defensive resolve: a strong
intervention on the edge of Dale’s box regained possession, Devante Rodney
surged forward, and Dieseruvwe was found in stride. Two touches, composure, and
a firm finish into the near bottom corner from just outside the area.
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| An eighth brace of the season for Mani D. |
Aldershot attempted to respond immediately but were
met by a line of blue shirts and a goalkeeper in Oliver Whatmuff who, together
with his defence, were alert to the second balls and ricochets that had defined
the half. Even so, at 1–0, it did not feel settled. As ever, one goal rarely
does.
The second half told a different story. If the first
had been ragged, the second was controlled. Dale kept the ball with greater
authority, moved it with purpose rather than haste, and in doing so quietened
both the game and the home support. It was, in many respects, the response you
would have wanted to see after Tuesday − bouncebackability indeed.
The second goal arrived via persistence. A move down
the left seemed to have broken down, Dieseruvwe’s clipped pass cut out. The
loose ball, however, dropped kindly. On the turn from 20 yards, he whipped it
into the bottom corner. Ruthless.
From there, control hardened into comfort. Kwame Thomas
headed over with Aldershot’s best opportunity five minutes after the second,
but while the hosts enjoyed the majority of possession in the closing stages,
they rarely looked like troubling Dale’s clean sheet. The structure held. The
distances were right. The chaos was gone.
Interestingly, the closing minutes saw a brief
reshuffle − Ian Henderson dropping into midfield, Harvey Gilmour pushing on,
hinting at the latter worryingly carrying a knock − yet the framework was no
different to previous weeks. The distinction lay in execution. This time, at
2–0, the ball was kept. And when you control the ball, you control the game.
The lesson from Halifax had been absorbed swiftly.
By late afternoon, Dale were back on top of the
National League table − if only temporarily. Attention turned to the 5.30pm
televised kick-off, where York faced Morecambe. The latter, revitalised by
former Dale manager Jim Bentley and marshalled on the field by former Dale
centre-back Liam Hogan, produced a defiant display. Reduced to 10 men, a
penalty saved, bodies thrown in front of everything. For long stretches, it
appeared the title picture might tilt in Rochdale’s favour.
But promotion races are rarely generous. Deep into 10
minutes of added time, Ollie Banks side-footed home to return York to the
summit by a single point.
And so, the month closed with the two sides remaining
locked in a relentless exchange at the top. Nip and tuck. Punch for punch. Two
months remaining, little margin for error.
As always, my eternal thanks to The Voice of Spotland/Dan Youngs/Rochdale AFC for use of images.
