Coca-Cola League Two - 18th August 2009 - 7:45pm
Venue - Spotland
Dale came away from Spotland utterly disappointed after a 90th minute winner from substitute striker Julian Alsop gave Cheltenham Town a 1-0 win over Keith Hill's men at Spotland.
Dale made one enforced change to the side that started against Aldershot on Saturday. Marcus Holness, who was brought on in defence after Nathan Stanton's dismissal at weekend, got the nod to start in place of the suspended Stanton. That means he lined up alongside Saturday's Man-of-the-Match Craig Dawson in defence, with Tom Kennedy and Matt Flynn in the full-back positions, and number one Kenny Arthur starting in goals behind his back four. Captain Gary Jones and summer signing Jason Kennedy were paired up in midfield, with Adam Rundle and Joe Thompson on the wings. Will Buckley and Chris Dagnall started up top for the home side.
With Rory McArdle and Nathan Stanton sitting in the dugout before the match watching the players warm-up, Dale's back line had an unfamiliar look about it going into the game. It was this back four that was trouble early on thanks to Cheltenham's "one to watch" Elvis Hammond. He picked the ball up just outside Dale's 18 yard area, and released a right-footed shot that was too hot to handle for Kenny Arthur low to his right. As the ball squirmed free Cheltenham's lanky striker Tom Denton came in to try and poke the rebound home, but Dale's goalkeeper got back up well to challenge Denton, and the ball eventually found its way out for a goal kick.
With almost ten minutes gone Dale had a great opportunity to take the lead. Good defensive work between Matt Flynn and Jason Kennedy on the right allowed Joe Thompson to hook the ball with his left-foot over the Cheltenham defence and into the path of Will Buckley. With the ball spinning wildly, Buckley showed great composure to bring the ball down with his chest, but unfortunately his right foot shot was struck wide of Scott Brown's near post.
Both teams took it in turns to try and test the other's defence, with a lot of the game being played in the middle of the park. Some of the Dale contingent thought they had taken the lead when a Craig Dawson header from an Adam Rundle free-kick looked to have crossed the line. However, the linesman on the nearside had his flag up for an offside decision on Dawson.
The pattern of the game continued as it had done for the opening 18 minutes, as Cheltenham were next to coming close to breaking the deadlock. The ball found its way out to Oliver Bozanic on the right hand side, and his good skill and close control allowed him to beat Adam Rundle and Gary Jones, before he unleashed a dipping left foot shot that Kenny Arthur managed to tip over the bar for a corner.
Although there weren't many chances in the ten minutes building up to the half hour mark, there was certainly no shortage of good attacking football from either team. Joe Thompson had a shot which was flying towards The Robins' goal before hitting Chris Dagnall on its way.
Chris Dagnall was involved just minutes later, as he wasted what was the chance of the game so far. Work between the two Kennedy's led to Gary Jones laying off Adam Rundle on the left, who fired in a superb cross towards Dagnall, but his right footed poke saw the ball fly over the bar. Dagnall will have been disappointed, and will have felt he should have given Dale the lead with just over half an hour played.
With Dale perhaps feeling they should have been a goal ahead, Cheltenham reacted well and forced a few opportunities of their own. Justin Richards did well to turn Tom Kennedy and get a left foot shot off, but it was well held by Kenny Arthur. Then came Cheltenham's chance of the first half, again through Richards. A searching ball out to the left from Oliver Bozanic found Richards and he did well to skip the sliding challenge of Matt Flynn, before firing a curling right foot shot towards goal which beat Kenny Arthur, but not his left hand post, as it glanced off the outside of the upright, leaving the scoreboard untroubled.
It was Dale's turn to react with five minutes remaining in the half. Craig Dawson displayed why he is so highly rated just four games into the season with a magnificent long pass out wide to Adam Rundle on the left. Rundle laid the ball off to Gary Jones, whose first time right foot shot flew over the crossbar. Rundle was again involved just before half time, as it was he who had a shot that went over Scott Brown's crossbar.
An eventful first half came to a close with the score at 0-0, a score that can't be argued with too much as both sides had great chances to make their mark on the score-line.
Both sides will have been hoping to start the second half better than their opponents as both looked to gain an early advantage over one another. It was Dale who had the first chance of the half through left winger Adam Rundle. He picked the ball up on the left touchline before cutting inside, and as he went to hit the ball with his right foot he half slipped, but still managed to fire the ball towards the far bottom corner and it needed a good save from Brown low to his left to keep the ball out.
Dale's midfield pairing of Gary Jones and Jason Kennedy started to take control of the game, as Dale began to work their passing game. A rare opportunity for Cheltenham 9 minutes into the second half almost gave them the lead against the run of play. Oliver Bozanic, Cheltenham's stand out player of the game, did well to cut in from the right before his scuffed shot fell to Tom Denton in the penalty area, but he sliced a right footed shot well wide of Kenny Arthur's goal. Denton would have been relieved to see the assistant referee raise his flag on the near side, such was the embarrassment of the miss.
Just a minute later and Dale forced The Robins' goalkeeper Scott Brown into another good save. Will Buckley did well to beat two men on the right hand side before his left foot shot was blocked, coming back out to Adam Rundle who hit the ball with his second touch on his foot, drawing a solid save from Brown in the Cheltenham goal.
Then came an agonisingly close chance for Dale with almost an hour played. Marcus Holness continued his impressive display at the back by winning the ball high up the pitch, before crossing the ball from deep, which took a wild deflection off a Cheltenham leg, taking it towards Joe Thompson at the back post, but he couldn't quite get a firm touch on the ball and the ball cross the line for a goal kick.
Dale's dominance on the chances front obviously provided a wake up call for Cheltenham, as they started to get a foot on the ball. They had a decent chance with just over an hour gone as Justin Richards turned well inside the area before hitting his shot wide of Kenny Arthur's near post.
With Cheltenham putting a bit of pressure on Keith Hill's side, the home side managed to break away and try to open the scoring. Adam Rundle came away with the ball on the left before cutting inside on his right foot. His shot was blocked by Michael Townsend, with the ball popping out to Jason Kennedy, who nearly scored off his knee, but Brown got down well to save.
Dale again managed to break just a minute later, this time with Will Buckley. The ball hit Chris Dagnall on the half way line with Buckley picking it up and running at the Cheltenham defence. He reached The Robins' area before unleashing a shot which was deflected out for a corner to Dale. From the corner Craig Dawson just headed wide an Adam Rundle corner.
As the game opened up, both sides started to create good opportunities that would have broken the deadlock. A long ball forward from Cheltenham was brought down by Craig Dawson, but substitute Barry Hayles was quickly closing the youngster down, and he won the ball off him before firing a shot wide of Arthur's goal.
It was then time for Dale's first substitution, and this saw the introduction of new signing Scott Spencer, who came on for Adam Rundle, with Will Buckley moving out to the left.
Spencer's introduction gave Dale a bit more life in the final third, and the new signing showed his pace early on by forcing Scott Brown into a hurried clearance. But with five minutes remaining it was Cheltenham who could have taken the lead. Good football from the away side led to David Hutton playing a through ball into the path of Barry Hayles, who couldn't get a shot away, and Kenny Arthur picked up the ball.
Then came what was to be Dale's last great chance of the game. A Tom Kennedy pass evaded Chris Dagnall and the Cheltenham defence, but found its way to Scott Spencer who was one-on-one with goalkeeper Scott Brown and unfortunately he couldn't quite poke the ball past the Cheltenham goalkeeper.
Cheltenham almost delivered a killer blow to Dale with two minutes remaining. David Hutton showed good pace to get away from Matt Flynn, before he unleashed a left footed shot which flew wide of the far post.
Then, Cheltenham did deliver the killer blow. Barry Hayles caught Marcus Holness in possession the Dale left before he broke clear and played ball into the path of Julian Alsop, who managed to stick out a left leg and turn the ball home to break the deadlock in the 90th minute, and deliver a sucker punch to Dale.
That was to be the last action of the game but for a left foot shot from Scott Spencer which flew wide of the Cheltenham goal.
The game finished 1-0 to the away side, meaning the Dale support left Spotland gutted after the late goal. After Keith Hill's men picked up a late win on Saturday, it was their turn to leave the ground disappointed after conceding a late, late goal.
It's onto Rotherham on Sunday now and a chance to avenge today's result and hopefully not concede a late goal as we did at the Don Valley last season.
Dale: Arthur, Flynn, T Kennedy, Dawson, Holness, Jones, J Kennedy, Rundle (Spencer 77), Thompson, Buckley, Dagnall.
Cheltenham: Brown, Bird (Alsop 82), Ridley, Duff, Townsend, Diallo, Gallinagh, Richards, Hammond (Hutton 73), Denton (Hayles 61), Bozanic.
Referee: Andy Haines (Tyne & Wear). Assistant Referees: Darren Handley and Ross Joyce. Fourth Official: Jason Whiteley.
Attendance: 2,311
