Dale were held to a 1-1 draw at home to lowly Carlisle. In a fiercely fought match Dale fell behind but Gareth Griffiths equalised. Full match report online.
On paper it looked an easy home win for Dale, but things aren't always so simple, and Carlisle put up a fight (for once!). However Dale were by far the better side and had the visitors on the rack for most of the game and really should of sewn the game up in the first twenty minutes.
Dale started with the same side that disposed of Swansea so easily on Saturday. But not long into the match and disaster struck for Dale. An on-form Paul Connor broke into the box and a defender slid in to clear the ball however he left his leg trailing and it caught Connor and the £150,000 record buy was in agony. It was the end of his game, and it looks like he may be out for a while. Kevin Townson replaced him.
Dale had the better of the opening periods and had a number of opportunities to take the lead, but many of them were weak efforts that barely troubled the goalkeeper. Then totally against the run of play Stephen Halliday danced through a static Dale defence before firing a low shot to give the visitors an undeserved lead.
The goal seemed to knock the stuffing out of Dale and we seemed to resort to the silly long ball tactic which has been proven not to give us any success. The half fizzled out and Dale didn't create too much more.
The second half Dale were once again back in control of the match and thankfully this time we made a breakthrough. A deep corner was headed home at the back post by Gareth Griffiths. No sooner had Dale taken the lead and we were once in trouble at the back.
Goalkeeper Steve Banks came to collect the ball at the side of his area and handled it outside. With it not being a goal-scoring opportunity though he was only awarded a yellow card. The resulting free-kick was whipped in dangerously and somehow Wayne Evans knocked it behind for a corner.
Things then begin to take a nasty turn, and tackles were flying in on Dale players from all directions. Considering some of them were worse than one that Clive Platt got sent off for at York last week, it makes you wonder just how the hell referees can be so inconsistent.
The game opened up as it went on and Dale really should of won it in the dying seconds. A lovely ball from Matt Doughty into the box was met by Lee McEvilly (who replaced Townson) but he could only head straight at the keeper and the ball didn't go in the net.
In the end, we had enough of the ball and played well enough to win, but a slip at the back saw us go behind. Credit has to be given though for the way we fought our way back into the game, and so many times in the past the visitors would of simply sat back and protected the lead, but Carlisle didn't and thats why we got back into the game.