Mark Wilbraham, Editor of the club’s official matchday programme, ‘The Voice of Spotland’, takes a look back at Dale events on this date down the years...
CLASSIC MATCH
Saturday 8th September 2001
Nationwide League Division Three
ROCHDALE 2, KIDDERMINSTER HARRIERS 0
Dale had made a wonderful start to the 2001/02 campaign.
They sat proudly at the top of Division Three having dropped only two points in their five league fixtures.
Steve Parkin’s men had also made it through to the second round of the Worthington Cup after winning at Huddersfield in round one. Next up were Premier League Fulham at Spotland in three days time.
Kidderminster were only in their second season as a Football League club and had held Dale to two goalless draws in 2000/01, so there was no historical form guide to this meeting.
They were midway in the table after winning two and drawing two of their five league games to date.
Whatever plans Harriers had to combat Dale were undone after only two minutes.
The hosts won a corner on the right and the centre was powered home from about 15 yards by a magnificent Gareth Griffiths’ header.
Kidderminster didn’t heed the warning from that goal because Griffiths (pictured above) repeated the feat on 76 minutes to clinch the win.
This time the corner came over from the left and he arrived at the near post to bundle the ball in and maintain Dale’s three-point lead at the top of the table.
Watch highlights from the game on Dale PlayerHD.
The Rochdale team that afternoon was:
Matt Gilks
Wayne Evans
Sean McAuley
Michael Oliver
Gareth Griffiths
Dave Bayliss
Tony Ford (David Flitcroft)
Gary Jones
Clive Platt
Kevin Townson (Paul Connor)
Kieron Durkan (Matt Doughty)
ALSO ON THIS DAY
1962 Don Watson (2) and Ron Cairns were on target in a 3-2 home win over Chesterfield.
1990 A goal from Steve Elliott ensured Dale were 1-0 winners over Stockport at Spotland.
BORN ON THIS DAY
Five former Dale players were born on this day, including Dave Bayliss, Dave Lancaster and Paul Williams.
Bayliss clocked-up 220 appearances in two spells in Dale’s defence from 1995-2001 and towards the end of the 2005/06 season. He is now part of David Flitcroft’s scouting network at Bury and is 40 today.
Lancaster (pictured below) also had two spells with the club (1993-96), scoring 15 goals in 54 games, including a hat-trick against Northampton on New Year’s Day 1994. He is 55 today.
Williams scored in each of his first two games for Dale after joining us on loan in November 1993 and later signed a permanent deal. A former Northern Ireland international whose mother is a Nobel Prize winner, Paul scored seven goals in 43 Dale outings and he is 53 today.