Dale climbed to 4th in league thanks to two second half goals from Joe Thompson and Lee McEvilly. Full match report online now...
Chester: Danby, Vaughan Kelly, Linwood, Roberts, Partridge, Harris, Barry, Ellison, Rutherford and Lowe.
Substitutes: Jones, Owen, Ellans, Ablett and Smith.
Rochdale: Fielding, Wiseman, Stanton, McArdle, Kennedy, Adams, Toner, Jones, Buckley, Dagnall and Thompson.
Substitutes: Le Fondre, McEvilly, Rundle, Ramsden and Keltie.
The first half at the Deva was quite a boring affair really, considering what we’ve been spoilt with under Hill’s management over the last couple of years.
Dale played an impressive passing game, patiently knocking the ball around leaving City chasing shadows for most of the half.
However, when Chester did have possession, they didn’t do too bad themselves with the impressive Paul Rutherford never miss-placing a pass throughout the match.
Unfortunately for Rutherford and the likes of Richie Partridge and Ryan Lowe, the rest of the team weren’t anywhere near up to scratch with Ellison probably having one of the worst games of his career.
Dale came closest in the first half as patient play from the right allowed Wiseman (I think) to cross to the far post with Nicky Adams beating Gary Jones to the volley, only for Jon Danby to pull off a fantastic save pushing the ball round his post for a corner.
Adams was forced to leave the field soon after due to a severe head injury which forced Hill to bring Adam Rundle on in his place.
And as the first half came to a close, Dale started to be a little sloppy in their own half with Rutherford having enough time to create two Chester attacks, both of which ended with Lowe firing wide.
Dale came out with a similar game plan in the second half as they continued their patient game waiting for any opportunity to punish Chester, but it was Chester who nearly scored first, with Fielding being forced to tip over a powerful long range effort from one of Chester’s only attacks of the night.
And with ten minutes of the second half gone, Hill decided to change things around, sacrificing Chris Dagnall for Lee McEvilly.
The change seemed to change games Dale tempo immediately as Dale became more direct and with 55 minutes gone, Dale broke the deadlock thanks to Joe Thompson.
Thompson, who’s three goals at weekend seem to have done him the world of good, picked up the ball in the Chester area, rounded a defender before slotting past Danby with ease to wake up the 500+ Dale fans who had braved the weather to be there tonight.
Evil made it two seconds later as Chester hesitated and failed to clear a corner, with Evil taking full advantage of the situation, dinking the ball past Danby before running alongside the Dale faithful and jumping head first into the nearest pile of snow! Great celebration!
The game was over after the point as a contest as Chester battled to keep the scoreline at just 2-0. Hill made his final change of the match with 15 minutes left with Adam Le Fondre replacing Will Buckley as we cruised to another three points at the Deva Stadium.
And apart from a Chester defender trying and failing to wind up McEvilly after the last substitution, there’s little else to report about.
Match ratings:
Fielding 7
Wiseman 7
McArdle 6
Stanton 6
Kennedy 6
Buckley 6
Jones 7
Toner 7
Adams 7
Thompson 7
Dagnall 6
Subsitutes:
Rundle 7
McEvilly 8
Le Fondre 6