Dale hold their nerve in tight title battle

 

Devante Rodney and Casey Pettit celebrate as Dale reclaim top spot.

The beginning of spring brought with it another round of reverse fixtures for Rochdale to navigate as they sought to sustain their gripping two-way battle at the top of the National League with York City.

What had, just two months earlier, been a congested quagmire had transformed into something remarkable. Rochdale sat on 82 points, York on 83 − though Rochdale held a game in hand. Third-placed Carlisle trailed some way behind on 71.

In almost any other scenario, the herculean efforts of both sides would have been rewarded with automatic promotion. The National League, however, is anything but just. With only one automatic promotion place available, neither side could afford to concede even a single point in the relentless race for the title.

March began with a rearranged home fixture against Brackley Town, the original tie having been frozen off in January while Rochdale were ground-sharing with Accrington Stanley. Yet it was not the rescheduling that occupied supporters’ thoughts when considering the Northamptonshire visitors.

In a league where a dropped point could feel as damaging as three, it was the reverse fixture in August that lingered in the memory. Without disrespect to Brackley, the part-time side had been among the division’s least fancied, their league position for much of the season reinforcing that perception. Seeking to protect his squad over the August Bank Holiday weekend, Jim McNulty had changed his entire starting XI for the contest. The result was a collection of players who, so early in the campaign, appeared disjointed and unfamiliar with one another. Brackley claimed all three points, inflicting one of only four defeats Rochdale had suffered to this stage.

It would be churlish to assume the outcome would certainly have differed had McNulty selected his first-choice side, yet in a title race of such fine margins, those dropped points continued to be cited by some supporters.

As Brackley arrived at Spotland, they did so under new management. Andy Whing, formerly of Solihull Moors at this level, had taken charge and was tasked with steering the Saints clear of relegation. For Rochdale there could be no repeat of August.

What followed was a night that briefly threatened to drift into the same frustration before Rochdale seized control and carried it to a deserved victory.

There was one change to the starting XI from the 2-0 win at Aldershot Town, as Ed Francis came in for the injured Harvey Gilmour.

‘Unfortunately, Harvey picked up a calf injury late in the last game,’ McNulty confirmed afterwards. ‘The scan suggests around five weeks, which is a loss. But it’s next man up. Part of why Harvey has been outstanding this season is because of the quality supporting and challenging him in that position. That underpinning on the training ground drives standards.’

Dale began as if determined to extinguish any lingering ghosts of August. Inside three minutes, they were ahead. Aidan Barlow’s left-wing cross arced towards the near post, where Emmanuel Dieseruvwe, sharp and decisive, converted for his 22nd goal of the season. Spotland rose in expectation.

Aidan Barlow gets the ball rolling against Brackley.

For much of the opening period Rochdale monopolised possession. They probed and recycled, penned Brackley back into a compact, stubborn low block. Dieseruvwe forced Jonny Maxted into a further save, yet for all the territorial dominance there was a faint sense of unease.

Then came the reminder of how unforgiving this league can be. With almost their first meaningful attack, Brackley equalised. A corner was delivered with height rather than pace; Zak Lilly’s looping header hung in the air before dropping beyond Oliver Whatmuff. The visiting support, what few of them there were, celebrated wildly. Around the ground, the earlier hum of confidence tightened into irritation.

Brackley briefly threatened again after the break when Zak Brown curled narrowly wide from distance, but the tempo had shifted. Dale’s passing carried greater intent, the press bit harder. After patient probing around the box, Ryan East slid a low ball into Dieseruvwe’s feet. In one smooth motion the striker rolled his marker and, with exquisite composure, lifted his finish over the advancing Maxted. It was his ninth brace of the campaign − timed precisely when the title race demanded it.

It was not only events in Rochdale that sharpened the atmosphere. News began to filter through that Boreham Wood had taken the lead against York City. Then, astonishingly, another. Each whisper rippled through the stands, passed phone to phone, row to row, until it became a roar. Supporters waved, gestured, shouted towards the pitch − willing the message onto the turf, willing their team to grasp the opportunity being handed to them 200 miles south.

Barlow and substitute Tyler Smith both fired off target as Rochdale sensed vulnerability. The third goal, when it came, arrived from a familiar source. East stood over a wide free-kick and delivered with pace towards the near post. Kyron Gordon, making his 100th appearance for the club, darted across his man and glanced a header goalwards. It flicked off a defender but was destined for the net regardless. Gordon wheeled away in celebration, embraced by teammates and serenaded by supporters who knew the significance of the moment.

Mani D just keeps on scoring for Dale.

The final minutes were played in a curious blend of tension and anticipation. Every clearance was cheered; every Brackley delivery drew sharp intakes of breath. Yet there remained one final tremor. Deep into stoppage time, Brackley won another corner. Once again, the ball was allowed to travel, once again Lilly found space. His header made it 3–2 and introduced a needless edge to the closing seconds. It was the second concession from a dead ball − another disappointing failure to assert control over a routine situation.

Yet when the whistle finally blew, confirmation arrived minutes later from Hertfordshire: York had been beaten. The noise inside Spotland swelled once more − this time not urging but celebrating. Rochdale’s 3–2 victory, combined with York’s defeat at Boreham Wood, lifted them two points clear at the summit with a game in hand.

The variety in Rochdale’s goals was a particular source of satisfaction. The first, a move that dissected the opposition and ended with a clinical finish. The second was crafted in tight spaces. The third, crucially, came from a set piece.

‘We’ve worked hard on that,’ McNulty said of the third goal. ‘It’s not my area − credit goes to the staff who dedicate themselves to it − but it proved to be the difference. We conceded a couple from set plays tonight, which is unlike us, but the one we scored ended up being decisive.’

For long spells the issue had not been structure or control, but the speed at which Rochdale moved the ball and attacked space. In the opening 15 minutes they had shifted it sharply, stretching Brackley and forcing openings. Then the urgency faded, the play slowed, and the visitors were allowed to settle into their defensive shape.

The second half told a different story. The substitutions injected impetus and variety, altering the rhythm of the contest. Whether enforced or tactical, the changes had impact. Fresh legs brought directness, and Tarryn Allarakhia in particular offered a different kind of threat − more willingness to drive, to commit defenders, to accelerate play.

Most satisfying of all was that the 85 points Dale now found themselves on was a record return – with 11 games still to play. This wasn’t the only record to tumble. In reaching his ninth brace of the campaign, Dieseruvwe moved into rarefied territory in the club’s history. He became only the second player ever to score two or more goals in a match on nine separate occasions in the same season for Rochdale. The only other man to achieve the feat was Albert Whitehurst, who did so an astonishing 11 times during the 1926/27 campaign − a record that has stood untouched for almost a century.

At the other end of the pitch, Ethan Ebanks-Landell signed on for another year. Retaining the captain and the club’s most experienced player was as important as any addition, particularly given the leadership he provided to a squad still developing together.

‘I’ve loved every minute of it here, particularly since the gaffer has taken over,’ he said. ‘I’m really glad that they see me as part of the future still. I think I’ve still got a lot of value to offer.’

Another year for captain Ethan Ebanks-Landell.

Attention then turned back to league business on Saturday. Where Rochdale had not struggled to find the net against Brackley, they had shown defensive lapses, but the complete opposite was true when Boston United visited Spotland four days later.

Under Paul Hurst, a veteran manager of both the National League and the EFL, Boston had enjoyed a run of eight games undefeated prior to kick-off. On this sunny spring afternoon, it could certainly be seen why.

For long stretches, Rochdale controlled the contest but could not quite apply the finishing touch.

The ball moved crisply enough, the structure remained, yet the final moment kept evading them. Boston defended their box with determination and organisation, content to absorb wave after wave of pressure.

Still, the shape and intent of Jim McNulty’s side never wavered. That was perhaps the most striking aspect of the afternoon. Personnel changed, but the principles did not. The plan remained the same as it had for the majority of the season to date: control the ball, stretch the opposition and trust that the breakthrough would eventually arrive.

Two changes from the midweek victory over Brackley saw Tarryn Allarakhia return to the starting XI and Casey Pettit handed his opportunity in midfield. Pettit had hinted during pre-season that he offered something slightly different in the centre of the park − a player willing to bite into tackles, impose himself physically and keep the ball moving with purpose. Here, those qualities were again evident as they had been in his limited appearances during the campaign. His presence helped ensure that Dale’s midfield control rarely wavered, a fear that had arisen in light of Harvey Gilmour’s injury.

Allarakhia, operating on the right, provided a different kind of threat. With a natural inclination to attack the outside, he repeatedly looked to deliver early crosses into the area. Combined with Dan Moss pushing forward on the opposite flank, the supply lines into Boston’s penalty box were plentiful. The missing ingredient was simply the decisive touch.

Tarryn Allarakhia operated on the right against Boston.

Ryan East, Aidan Barlow and Devante Rodney all saw efforts blocked, while Emmanuel Dieseruvwe twice tested Boston goalkeeper Dan Cameron with headers that lacked the power to trouble him unduly. For much of the first half Oliver Whatmuff was a spectator at the other end.

The pattern continued after the break. Rochdale retained the initiative, Boston remained stubbornly compact, and the sense grew that this might be one of those afternoons where dominance alone would not be enough.

The breakthrough eventually came from experience − and from two substitutes who combined almost immediately after entering the field. Ian Henderson had been on the pitch barely two minutes when he lifted a delicate cross towards the far post. Moss rose to head the ball back into the danger area and Tyler Smith reacted quickest, stooping to nod home from close range.

It was a classic six-yard-box finish, the sort Smith had begun to make a habit of this season, but few will prove more valuable.

If the goal ignited relief around Spotland, it was followed swiftly by a moment of anxiety. Boston created their clearest opportunity of the afternoon almost straight from the restart when Tom Cursons broke through one-on-one. Whatmuff, largely untested until that point, produced a crucial save to preserve the lead.

That intervention proved every bit as important as the goal itself.

From there Dale saw the game out with relative calm. The narrow scoreline belied the level of control they had exerted across the 90 minutes.

‘That’s the sign of a good team,’ Tyler Smith reflected afterwards. ‘You can’t win things if you don’t find ways. It’s not always going to be easy − teams will come here and sit back − but we’ll always find a way.’

A hard-earned three points, secured late, sent a crowd of more than 3,000 home content. The players, meanwhile, could finally enjoy something of a rarity − a midweek without a fixture, and a pitch that would benefit from two clear weeks without football or rugby cutting in to it.

The victory also carried a quieter historical significance. It represented the most wins Rochdale had ever recorded in a single season. And there were still 10 games to play.

However, with Dale clinging to the top of the National League by just two points, and York having come from behind at home to beat Eastleigh, the squad now faced a trip to Hampshire to face the same opponents. The week-long break before the journey was welcome − though the news that Joe Pritchard had joined Tobi Adebayo-Rowling and Harvey Gilmour in the treatment room with a hamstring injury tempered any relief. Five weeks out, with another long trek to Southend looming just four days after the Eastleigh game, was the last thing Dale needed.

Still, these were the challenges any title contender had to overcome.

The DAZN cameras’ decision to make this a teatime fixture meant the travelling faithful arrived at the Silverlake Stadium already armed with unwelcome knowledge: York City had earlier strolled past Aldershot 3-0, a result that John Coleman’s side had offered precious little resistance to, and the summit of the National League had changed hands once again before Dale had even kicked a ball. The pressure, familiar enough by now, was clear – only a win would do.

This might have unsettled a squad less sure of itself. It did not unsettle this one. Jim McNulty named an unchanged side from that which overcame Boston and they rewarded him in kind.

Jim McNulty was rewarded by his team selection at Eastleigh.

From the first whistle, Dale played with their usual composure and authority. They set the tone immediately, penning Eastleigh back and probing with the kind of patient, purposeful build-up that has become their trademark. When the opening goal arrived, it was a move of real quality, Ryan East finding Aidan Barlow wide on the right, and Barlow’s low ball across the face of goal inviting Emmanuel Dieseruvwe to slide home at the far post. His 23rd league goal of the season.

The half-time scoreline flattered Eastleigh. The opportunities had been plentiful, the execution only occasionally wanting, and the one-goal cushion felt a thin reward for 45-minutes’ worth of sustained attacking intent. Whether it was enough to trust through the second 45 was the question that nagged. It did not nag for long, however.

Dale emerged with even greater urgency after the interval, recycling less and moving the ball with a sharpness that Eastleigh simply could not live with. The second goal, when it came, was one that will be remembered long outside the confines of this season. Casey Pettit, whose ability to strike the ball with genuine ferocity has always suggested goals like this were inevitable, took a touch to set himself just outside the box before rifling a shot into the top corner, off the underside of the bar and in. It was a piledriver in the most literal sense.

Pettit then switched from finisher to creator, his whipped delivery from a free-kick in the right channel was met by the head of Ethan Ebanks-Landell, who powered the ball home − also via the underside of the bar − to put the seal on what had by now become a thoroughly convincing evening’s work that had, until then, passed largely without complaint.

However, the late consolation from substitute Jake Tabor was the one blemish, with substitute Bryant Bilongo limping and unable to close down the cross that led to the strike, Eastleigh’s only shot on target all game. It was once again a reminder, however minor, that even the most commanding of leads must be protected to the last. That it amounted to nothing more than a footnote was some comfort.

What mattered − what always matters in these final weeks of a title race − was the three points, and the reclaiming of top spot in the table. The performance, moreover, carried a significance beyond the result. That Dale could produce football of this quality and conviction on an evening when York’s earlier win had reset the pressure gauge, when injuries continued to thin the squad, and when a trip to Southend loomed just four days hence, spoke of a group of players who have absorbed everything this season has thrown at them and emerged, each time, still pointing upwards.

The doubts, if any lingered, were blasted away somewhere on the south coast. Dale are still top. The destination is still in their own hands.

As always, my thanks to TVOS/Dan Youngs/Rochdale AFC for use of images.