Dale secured a last minute equaliser to snatch a point away at Brighton in their last ever game (till the next one probably) to be played at Gilligham's Priestfield ground. There was a large crowd at the match, Brighton's biggest of the season. Such is the appeal of the Dale probably.
There was a good following for Dale with near enough the entire membership of the Southern Dale supporters in attendance. Surprisingly not many travelled down from Rochdale itself. We also had a group of Bolton fans, who were cheering on their Lancastrian neighbours before Sunday's match at Pompey.
There was also the largest Police force I have ever seen at a football match, as rumours of Brighton fans doing to the Priestfield what they did to the Goldstone. There was a small amount of the trouble early in the game but nothing to get worked up about and it had no involvement with Dale.
With David Hamilton in temporary charge, following Barrow's sacking the previous week, Dale reverted to a four four two formation with returns to the side for Dean Stokes and Gary Jones, with Andy Barlow pushed into midfield, and a league debut for Graham Hicks. There were no places for the suspended Paul Carden or the injured Robbie Painter.
The new plan certainly seemed to be working as Dale were cruising for the first twenty minutes. Holt caused all sorts of problem with his pace, and Dale really could have been three up in the opening spell. Dale were by far the team on top. At one point Dale actually looked to have scored when Holty headed home a Barlow cross, but he was (quite rightly unfortunately) ajudged to have punched the ball in by the referee.
However, Brighton soon scored against the run of play. As we saw recently at Exeter, Dale conceded a goal following a corner as a result of poor marking. The corner came in and was put in by a free header inside the six yard box. Dale will never achieve anything whilst they continue to defend like that.
Spurred on by that goal, Brighton stepped up a gear and dominated the rest of the half. They should have been reduced to ten men when somehow Jeff Minton remained on the pitch. Minton got involved with debutant Hicks. Hicks made a tough tackle on the PFA team member, who reacted by going after Hicks and pushing him. Hicks was booked. Minton got nothing.
Minutes later Minton got booked for a late challenge, after the ref quite rightly allowed play on before issuing the yellow card. Not long after, Minton swung a clear elbow at Jason Peake. Again the ref kept his cards in his pocket. Unbelievable. Brighton started playing some neat football, and at one point had a move involving twenty plus passes, thought they rarely threatened.
The one further chance they had was when one of their strikers broke through the Dale defence's offside trap with some ease and Neil Edwards had to race out of his box, to make a fine tackle that Alan Johnson would have been proud of.
The other thing of note was caretaker manager David Hamilton bawling at Neil Edwards. Hamilton tried to communicate with Hill about the defensive line. After Hill's reply, Hamilton immediately turned his attentions to Edwards who certainly gave as good as he got.
The second half saw Dale attempt to get back into the game. It was made difficult by a very swirling wind, that resulted in some balls going awol at times. Dale struggled to get to terms with it, and crosses rarely reached their intended targets. Most of the moves came through Andy Barlow who looked threatening when he came forward. His midfield role gave him some freedom which he relished, however as mentioned before the final ball was never there. He was tempted to have a go himself, and came close to scoring on more than one opportunity.
There was little else to talk of during the second half, as Brighton seemed content to sit on their one nil lead and enjoy the end of season fixture with the party atmosphere created by the vociferous home fans, who celebrated the last match here throughout the game. Dale had most of the play, but shots were restricted to long range efforts
Just when it looked too late, Dale grabbed a share of the points. Another move down the wing resulted in a successful cross. Following a bit of a scrable, Andy Barlow fired the ball into the back of the net to score his first ever goal for Dale after two years of trying. His reaction would have looked more apt in the Carlisle or Scarboro matches, as you would have thought we had just obtained glory. It obviously meant a hell of a lot to him, and as a supporter, it is good to know it means so much to the players.
Not long after, the ref blew his final whistle after he had already started his sprint to the tunnel, as did all the players who had been warned of potential pitch invasions by the hordes of Seagulls in attendance. The large Police presence prevented this, and the players soon returned to thank the long travelling supporters of both teams. The Dale players came over. Bruno threw his shirt into the crowd. Holty threw his shorts in, whilst Edwards tossed in his gloves and shin pads (AND I GOT A SHIN PAD!! YES!!!!!!!!!). He then added his shorts, to which Holty ran up and pulled down the goalkeepers underpants.
An away point was good, but it was more important to see Dale fans enjoying themselves again. There was no negative chanting. There was no inter fan arguments. Just Dale fans enjoying themselves.
So that's that. End of another season of disappointment, and time to start looking forward to next season, and primarily pre-season when Dale spirits usually peak, when even the P word gets mentioned.