Saturday 26th November 2005 - KO 3pm

 4

Shrewsbury Town

 3

1 

Mat Gilks 

 1

 Joe Hart

 27

 Gary Brown

 2

 Stuart Whitehead

 12

 Alan Goodall

 4

 Jamie Tolley

 15

 Rory McArdle

 6

 Neil Sorvel

 3

 Tony Gallimore

 7

 Colin McMenamin

 8

 Neil Brisco

 9

 Mark Stallard

 18

 Jamie Clarke

 11

 Neil Ashton

 11

 Gary Jones

 12

 Ben Heard

 19

 Blair Sturrock 74

 16

Gavin Coward

 17

 Ricky Lambert

 19

 Dave Edwards

 9

 Grant Holt

 25

 Richard Hope

Substitutes

 5

 Gareth Griffiths

 5

Dave Walton 

 10

 Paul Tait 74

 10

 Ben Smith

 7

 Lee Cartwright

 14

 Glynn Thompson

 16

 Tommy Jaszczun

 17

 Steve Hogg

 14

 Scott Warner

 18

 Duane Darby

SCORERS

BOOKINGS

Brisco 27, Brown 55, 83  Holt 89

Ashton 28, Cowan 85

Brown

Stuart Ashworth at Spotland

A breathless encounter at Spotland saw Dale win through in a chalk and cheese performance from Steve Parkin's side.  Poor in the first half and absolutely fantastic second Dale came back from two goals down to get something from the game.

Rochdale manager Steve Parkin went for the throat in his team selection picking three strikers, but it was the visitors that enjoyed the best of the early play.

Dale went behind for the first team on three minutes Poor start for Rochdale as a cross flicked on flicked on by Dave Edwards was bundled over the line by McMennmin from close range.

Just two minutes later Dale responded with a goal of their own thanks to a Grant Holt spot kick. It came from a harsh decision on Shrewsbury after a Gary Jones shot was blocked by a hand inside the box, but Holt wasn't complaining as he smashed home his 14th of the season.

To their credit Shrewsbury didn't let the decision get them down despite appealing against the decision and promptly went back down the other end and take the lead once more.

This time it was poor defending by Rochdale that lead to Gavin Cowan racing into the box unmarked from an eigth minute cornerleft and powering home from eight yards .

It got scrappy for a while after such a frantic start and not much arrived in the way of goal-mouth action despite plenty of effort from both sides.

Shrewsbury extended their lead on 42 minutes following a sweeping move by the visitors helped by more poor defending by Rochdale.  Neil Sorvel played the long diagonal ball to McMenamin and his first time cross from acres of space on the left was tucked away by Mark Stallard.

The second half began Rochdale looking for the same sort of response they found against Chester City last week and with just a minute played Rickie Lambert curled home a twenty yard freekick past Hart.

The touch paper was lit and Rochdale almost brought matters level after a fine piece of skill by Lambert who brought the ball down on his chest before smashing a low drive against the upright.

Rochdale continued the assault on the Shrewsbury goal but the woodwork again came to their rescue after Alan Goodall saw his looping header come off the crossbar.

Skipper Gary Jones almost finished off a superb move as Dale continued to press, but his effort after Holt and Lambert combined skewed wide off the target.

On the hour Shrewsbury almost cancelled out the good work by Dale after a Jamie Tolley angled effort came somehow came off the inside of the post.

Joe Hart, the Shrewsbury 'keeper almost gifted Rochdale the leveller after spilling a low shot, but Holt after skipping round the grounded stopper was swamped by the Shrews defence.

Jamie Clarke was next to chance his arm with 71 minutes played after Lambert chested the ball down into his path, but the midfielders shot skipped off Tolley's back and wide.

Rickie Lambert was again denied with fifteen to go by an akward save by Hart at his near post, but he could nothing about Holt's header from a corner that brought the equaliser.

Steve Parkin's side weren't finished and took the lead on 81 minutes and it was a Rickie Lambert masterclass of cool finishing.  The Dale striker collected a long ball by Holt on the edge of the box and used his feet to bamboozle Hart before slotting home.

The half was soured a little by the sending off of defender Gary Brown for his second bookable  offence, but it wouldn't take the shine off a memorable showing by Dale.

Match Stats

Rochdale

Shrewsbury Town

ATTEMPTS

 14

ATTEMPTS

 6

ON TARGET

 11

ON TARGET

 4

FREEKICKS

 14

FREEKICKS

 15

CORNERS

 6

CORNERS

 4

OFFSIDE

 3

OFFSIDE

 2

YELLOW CARDS

 2

YELLOW CARDS

 2

RED CARDS

 1

RED CARDS

POSSESSION

57%

POSSESSION

43%

Star Player

Rochdale

Shrewsbury Town

 Gary Jones

 Jamie Tolley

Worked hard to get his side going, unlucky not to score a fourth for Shrewsbury. 

Managers Comments in Brief

Steve Parkin

Gary Peters

 "A Jekyl and Hyde performance against a Shrewsbury side who set their stall out well."

 "We were mugged by the referee."

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