Well the dream of gaining promotion and winning the League Cup in the same season is looking a far more difficult task this evening after Dale let a goal lead slip. Our 'treble' must now consist of the League, AWS and the FA Cup. Seriously though, Dale's future in this competition is looking bleak, as Dale gave away two sloppy goals, after doing almost everything right in the first half.

Dale started with the same team that did so well down at Cheltenham on Saturday, and began in much the same way. It was two or three minutes before Chesterfield even got into our half. Overall, Chesterfield looked a decent side. They started playing football, but went increasingly long ball as the game progressed. Their idea of attacking was lumping the ball over the top to David Reeves, who time after time reminded us how the Carlisle Fanzine got its name (it's called Reeves is Offside Again).

It was a fairly even first half that Dale just probably shaded. The nearest Chesterfield came to scoring was when Edwards dived at the feet of one of their strikers inside the box, earning himself another kick in the head in the process. The ball spun loose, but Edwards quickly stretched out an arm to recover.

Dale took the lead in the 18th minute. A corner came in. Leaning in the Chesterfield net appeared to get a touch on it. The ball landed at the feet of Graham Lancashire who spun round and fired the ball home to put Dale 1-0 up.

Dale had the chance to go 2-0 up not long after the half-hour mark. A well worked move saw the ball passed down the left hand side and a super cross was put into Andy Morris who put a free header over the bar. Other than that, it continued to be a pretty even first half with clear cut chances few and far between.

The second half started in a disasterous way for Dale. Within a couple of minutes, Dale found themselves 2-1 down. A cross came in and David Reeves met it easily heading it into the back of the net. It had to be him didn't it. At least it temporarily stopped him moaning.

Within a minute, Keith Hill scored to make it 2-1. Unfortunately, it was to be in the wrong net. A cross came in with Hill trying to put the ball out of play, but it spun towards the inside of the near post. Edwards dived and managed to get a hand on the ball, but it had already crossed the line.

The rest of the half saw Chesterfield sit back patiently, happy to defend, and attack when opportunity arose. Dale tried desperately to get back into the match, but could not get past the resolute Chesterfield defence. Dale nearly scored when Jason Peake forced Leaning into a finger tip save following a free kick from outside of the box.

Michael Holt and Paul Carden were introduced in the last few minutes in an attempt to change things round replacing Ford and Morris. Holt looked sharp and his pace caused the away defence a few problems, but we never really put the opposition's one goal lead under any threat.

So its back to the drawing board for Dale. We did struggle against a team happy to defend. We did not find it easy to break down their defence in an attempt to get back into the match. But this was a second division team we were facing, so lets put things into perspective. We must learn to break down these teams who are happy to defend. If we are successful this season, many teams will come to Spotland looking for a draw.

Dale: Edwards, Evans, Stokes, Bayliss, Hill, Ford (Carden), Flitcroft, Peake, Atkinson, Morris (Holt), Lancashire
Dale man of the match: Dean Stokes
 

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