The Rochdale supporters left Brunton Park devastated at going out of the LDV at the first round as Dale tragically lost to Carlisle 2-0. Full match report and ratings now online.
Not quite
Rochdale started the night with a changed team from the game on Saturday against Northampton. Edwards was in net, Evans and Simpkins were full backs, Griffiths and Grand in the centre of defence. No rest for Leo Bertos as he started the game on the right wing, Matt Doughty kept his place on the left wing with Ged Brannan and Sean McClare in the centre of midfield and Kevin Townson and Rory Patterson up front. The bench consisted of Matt Gilks, Mickael Antoine-Curier, Stephen Hill, Chris Beech and Paddy McCourt.
The game started very poorly and a few fans wondered why they had made the trek north to Scotland on 6 minutes.
Rochdale nearly took the lead on 12 minutes or so when Rory Patterson turned well in the box and managed to get a shot in but unfortunately it went wide of the far post.
Carlisle came very close to taking the lead 10 minutes later when the on loan Henderson headed goalwards and the ball looped over Neil Edwards but our Welsh No.1 got back to produce a magnificent save to keep the scores level.
Carlisle managed to get the first goal of the game 7 minutes short of half time when Adam Rundle volleyed home from the edge of the penalty area to send the 6 or 7 Carlisle scallies wild with joy at the fact they had scored a goal in the LDV and began singing songs about going to Cardiff. Bless them!
The home side nearly went 2-0 up a few minutes later when Dale were nearly caught by the quick free kick of Richie Foran. His early shot fooled the defence but Neil Edwards was on hand to save and put it out for a corner.
Rory Patterson came close to equalising on the stroke of half time as his looping header was tipped over the bar and the first half finished with the home side having the 1 goal advantage.
Half time was possibly the most enjoyable part of the game as we sat and laughed at Fiz from Corrie Street acting as one of the Carlisle stewards.
The second half began and it started off as poor as the first half had.
Rochdale made a double substitution on the hour as Patrick McCourt came on for Matt Doughty and Mickael Antoine-Curier came on for Rory Patterson and McCourts first touch resulted in him skinning 2 Carlisle defenders right in front of Mr Simpson who must have been edging to get on the field.
The half just fizzed out in a boring show of football with only the chants of "One Paul Simpson," "Paul Simpson's Blue/White Army," "We're all going to Cardiff" and the hilarious effort by the Carlisle scally who looked rather like Gavin Melaugh as he sung "E I E I E I O Up the football league we go!" Over the years we have sang many sarcastic songs but this one was serious and therefore made it so much funnier.
Dale did get the chance to score from a free kick. Michael Simpkins stepped up, the crowd on the edge of their seats, he steps up...........shoots.............he's missed!
Dale managed one last chance to get something out of the game as Kevin Townson scored but the linesman saw that it wasn't given as he raised his flag for offside despite Kev looking well onside but then again, it would have meant staying at least another 15 minutes with extra time so I wasn't that bothered with his decision.
The journey home was a pleasant one as we tried to hide our ultimate devastation at going out of the LDV thing by singing along to the wonderful sounds of the Stone Roses, The Smiths, The Specials and The Strokes while trying to make up new words to the songs to describe Michael Simpkins.
Player Ratings:
Neil Edwards 7 Pulled off 2 excellent saves and unlucky with the goals
Wayne Evans 6 Not bad from Evo, didn't really notice him
Michael Simpkins 5 Poor. Crossing was awful, free kick was awful, made 1 tackle though
Gareth Griffiths 7 Did well, very vocal and won the majority of his headers
Simon Grand 7 He played well also, got some great tackles in
Leo Bertos 6 Tried to create but didn't create a lot. His crossing was not the best
Matt Doughty 6 Too defensive. Everytime he got forward, he was passing back
Sean McClare 6 Passed the ball about well without actually threatening
Ged Brannan 6 Same as McClare
Rory Patterson 7 Looked lively up front and nearly scored a couple
Kevin Townson 6 Didn't do very much until the last few minutes
Subs:
Patrick McCourt 8 A joy to watch when he came on
Mickael Antoine-Curier 6 Brought the ball down well but that was it. Not sure about keeping him on at all