Coca-Cola League Two - 29th August 2009 - 3:00pm
Venue - Spotland
Goals from Joe Thompson, Chris Dagnall and Tom Kennedy gave Dale their first win over Bury at Spotland in 16 years and also the biggest margin. Keith Hill's side turned their promising performances of late into goals as they picked up their second three points of the season.
Dale made just one change from the side that lost to Rotherham on Sunday. Marcus Holness came into the side for Nathan Stanton who dropped to the bench. Kenny Arthur kept his place in goal, whilst Matt Flynn, who signed permanently for Dale on Friday, kept his place in defence. Tom Kennedy lined up against his former club and Craig Dawson partnered Holness in the centre of defence. Jason Kennedy and Gary Jones, fresh from his 400th appearance for Dale, continued their partnership in the middle, whilst Will Buckley and Joe Thompson patrolled the wings. Chris O'Grady made his home debut for Dale, starting up front alongside Chris Dagnall, who was looking to add to his goal at Rotherham at the weekend. There was a familiar name lining up against Dale in Tom Newey, who was on-loan at Spotland towards the end of last season.
With the atmosphere inside the ground as good as any previous derby day, both sides were looking to get off to the best possible start. It was Dale who had the better of the opening five minutes, with Chris Dagnall penetrating the visitor's defence. He broke free of the defence thanks to a Chris O'Grady lay-off, but he took a touch too many and the ball ran out for a goal kick. Dagnall was almost free again just minutes later after nut-megging Ben Futcher, but Efe Sodje came across well to cover and dispossess the Dale striker.
Bury could have taken the lead after nine minutes when their summer signing Ryan Lowe probably should have done better when in a great position. Danny Racchi played a great diagonal ball into the path of David Worrall who tried to flick the ball towards goal, but he found the hands of Kenny Arthur who came racing out of his goal. The deflection off Arthur found its way to Lowe in the area, but with only a Dale player on the line to beat, he put his effort wide.
Bury thought they had a decent shout for a penalty when Lowe looked to have been brought down just inside the Dale box after 15 minutes. However, the referee waved away any protests from the Bury players.
Despite tensions off the pitch between the two sets of fans running high, the action on the pitch didn't really live up to its billing. Both sides were looking to get the ball forward but were coming up against a strong midfield from either side. It was certainly a good battle between Jason Kennedy, Gary Jones, Stephen Dawson and Brian Barry-Murphy in the middle and one that was to be crucial in the game if either side was to take all three points.
Gary Jones had a decent opportunity with 10 minutes left when the ball came out from a corner, but his shot was skewed horribly wide. Bury also had a good opportunity just a few minutes later when Jordan Robertson played Stephen Dawson in, but he dragged his left-foot shot wide of Kenny Arthur's post.
Aside from a few set pieces for either team that had the opposition worried, there wasn't much to comment on as both sides tried to force the issue without much success. The game was a rough affair as both sides had to bring one of their central defenders off at some stage, but the quiet first half in terms of chances finished goalless.
The second half started with both sides looking to put each other under some early pressure. It was Bury who had the first good chance of the half when Barry-Murphy whipped in a free-kick from the right towards Efe Sodje at the back post. Sodje didn't seem to know too much about it as it hit him in the stomach before being cleared by Dale. The home side carved out their first opportunity of the half just a couple of minutes later when Chris O'Grady brought the ball down for his strike partner Chris Dagnall, but his left foot shot rolled harmlessly wide.
As the clock ticked past 50 minutes Chris Dagnall had Dale's best opportunity of the match. Chris O'Grady picked the ball up between Bury's defence and midfield before playing a great through ball to Dagnall. Dagnall's one-on-one effort was well blocked by Wayne Brown and the ball rolled agonisingly past his far post. From the resulting corner Craig Dawson nearly scored his first goal for Dale when the ball dropped to his feet 12 yards out, but his shot was deflected out for another corner.
These early events really kicked the fans and the game into life, as it started to become more of an end-to-end affair. Bury's Danny Racchi had a well struck shot saved by Kenny Arthur as Bury looked to carve out their own opportunities.
But, with just short of an hour played Dale took the lead. Some neat build up play between the Kennedy's and Gary Jones led to Will Buckley having the ball on the left wing. He did well to twist and turn Paul Scott before putting a left-foot cross in which appeared to beat everybody in the box, before Joe Thompson swung a left-foot at the ball which bobbled its way into the near post to send the Dale fans inside Spotland into raptures.
Bury looked for a way back into the game and almost scored an equaliser straight away. A corner was swung in to the back post where Paul Scott was, but his header went over the bar and into the TDS Stand.
With little over 20 minutes left to play, Will Buckley almost scored one of best goals to be seen at Spotland in recent years. He picked up an interception from Tom Kenney before taking on Efe Sodje and dancing between three more Bury defenders, but Wayne Brown was out well to block Buckley's shot and the ball was cleared by the Bury defence.
The game continued its trait of being end-to-end when Bury came forward looking to equalise. A Danny Racchi cross found its way to substitute Domaine Rouse at the back post, but his shot was almost like a return cross and it bounced back out and was cleared by Dale.
Then came the sucker punch for Bury. Tom Kennedy played a lovely curling ball over the Bury defence into the path of Chris Dagnall who timed his run to beat the offside trap perfectly. He steamed in towards Wayne Brown and rather than rushing his shot, took his time before placing the ball into the corner of the goal to Brown's right to make the score 2-0 to Dale.
Dagnall almost doubled his tally with 15 minutes to go when he instigated a Dale break after a Bury set piece had broken down. He won the ball just inside his own half and took the ball forward with Gary Jones for support. He played the Dale skipper in who retuned the favour to Dagnall, but the striker's shot was well saved again by Wayne Brown.
With just over 10 minutes remaining Dale did put the game to bed with a 3rd goal. Dale broke well again allowing Chris O'Grady to release a shot which was well blocked by the Bury defence. The ball fell to Will Buckley who went down under a challenge from Efe Sodje and the referee awarded a penalty to Dale. Tom Kennedy stepped up against his former club and fired the ball into the top corner, giving Brown no chance to stop it. Kennedy was booked for his celebrations in front of the Bury fans, but it will be his goals column that he takes more interest in as he doubled his tally for the season.
As the clock ticked down Dale were the only team that looked like scoring again. As Bury threw men forward Dale found spaces in their defence which they looked to exploit, but last ditch defending the away side's defence kept the score at three and even three minutes of added time didn't produce a goal.
The game ended at 3-0 to Dale, giving us our first win at home to Bury in 16 years. The scoreline meant Dale doubled their goals tally for the season in a game that will be remembered by Dale fans for years to come and for all the right reasons this time.
Dale: Arthur, Flynn, T Kennedy, Holness, Dawson, Jones, J Kennedy, Thompson, Buckley, O'Grady, Dagnall.
Bury: Brown, Scott, Futcher, Dawson, Barry-Murphy, Racchi, Robertson, Lowe, Sodje, Worrall, Newey.
Referee: Keith Stroud (Hampshire). Assistant Referees: Bobby Madley & Paul Thompson. 4th Official: Neil Swarbrick.
Attendance: 4,534
