Dale blew a three goal half time lead to leave Southend's ground with just a single point. Dale were cruising at half time after Gary Jones and Graham Lancashire had raced Dale into a three goal lead. However, a controversial penalty brought Southend back into the match.

Dale blew a three goal lead against a poor looking Southend side in this match. Despite leading three nil at the break, the home side came back into it with three goals, one of which a late equaliser, and were helped to this by a series of bizarre refereeing decisions.

There was a disappointing number of Dale fans to make the journey to Southend. There was only about 200 in the away end but they still consistently made more noise than the home fans, who must win the Year 2000 bury FC award for Services to Silence. They were never heard throughout the match, even after their three goal comeback. With home fans like that, is it any wonder they found themselves trailing so heavily at the break.

The game started in bizarre circumstances with a one minute silence. However, it seemed like the minute silence had started well before it had, and one Dale fan thought that the referee blowing his whistle had signalled the end rather than the start. Added to that, it was somewhat surreal to see what looked like a huge pink condom lining up alongside the players at the centre circle for the minute silence.

The first half started with little of incident. Throughout the whole of the half, Dale keeper Neil Edwards had nothing to do. No saves to make at all. Dale seemed very much in control. They way Dale were playing was to suggest that we had come to sneak a 1-0 win, as despite the possession that we were enjoying, we never put the home side under any real pressure that we know that we can.

Things took a turn for the worse halfway through the first half when playmaker Jason Peake had to go off injured prompting a reshuffle in the Dale ranks. Graeme Atkinson came on for Peake, which saw Bettney switch to his natural right hand side, and Flitcroft move into the centre.

Despite the forced change, it all seemed to work, as Dale went onto score three goals in seven minutes. Dale looked capable of scoring at will in this spell, as Dale caused chaos in the home penalty box.

The first came after yet another spell of good passing. The ball fell to Graham Lancashire whose shot was parried by the goalkeeper, for Gary Jones to race in and bury it to send Dale one goal up. This saw yet another Dale goal celebration which frustrated the home keeper Capleton big style. Are the Dale team trying to get onto "They Think It's all Over" every week?

Three minutes later Dale had made it two, when Graham Lancashire caused chaos in the home box when he chased home an errant backpass before coolly slotting the ball past Capleton.

Not long after it was three on our very next attack. Tony Ellis put in a great cross for a diving header from Graham Lancashire to score his fifth goal in five games (six goals if you give him the own goal at Hartlepool).

This goalscoring spree even went as far to prompt one idiot to start a chant of "We want ten!". Well at this stage it was just a case of how many Dale could run up wasn't it? Dale could never blow a three goal lead. I'll get my coat!

The second half began without any real problems. Southend immediately threw three big subs on at half time, but showed nothing in the opening few minutes to suggest what was to follow.

The first goal came following a good move from Scott Houghton. He was twisted and turned before firing home. It was a good goal. At this stage, it looked like this was just a consolation, but following the award of a penalty minutes after following what was judged to be handball by Dean Stokes, things were very much in the balance, as Carruthers duly converted the spotkick. The penalty came following a high ball, and Stokes jumped for the ball on the edge of the penalty box. His arm was forced upwards by the jump of one of the home forwards. Seemed very harsh, but typical of the refereeing who gave the home side whatever they wanted throughout the second half. However, I suppose if you do jump with your arm up like Stokes did, you must expect things like this to happen. Still think it was a little harsh though as you can see below.

This meant that Dale had about 25 minutes to try and hold on to their 3-2 lead, which should never have been in doubt. Dale struggled to get out of their own half at times, but when they did in the shape of Chris Bettney, the home defence found it easier to just chop him down rather than attempt to tackle him which they had failed to do all afternoon. These were professional fouls and should have resulted in red cards. Fair enough, the guilty defender may not have been the last man, but they were deliberate fouls.

The equaliser finally came just minutes from the end. A cross came over from goalscorer Houghton and it was headed home at the far post

Just after this goal, Southend almost snatched it when following a cross from the right wing, one Southend player was left completely unmarked at the far post, but he saw his header end up over the bar.

Other than that, the equaliser finally woke Dale up, who went down the other end, in a bid to grab a winner. Graeme Atkinson had the best effort when he had a firm shot which was tipped round the post by the home keeper Capleton. From the resultant corner, Mark Monington headed the ball onto the crossbar, but his effort would not have counted as the referee blew his whistle to give the home side a free kick, possibly for climbing.

All in all a disappointing day, not helped by the referee who interpreted the rules differently for both sides. The equaliser had come about following a free kick for handball which was very much ball to hand, something he had allowed the home side to get away with on two or three occasions. This was typical of a number of dodgy decisions he had made. However, at the end of the day (Brian), it comes down to the fact that Dale let a three goal lead slip. Full marks to Southend for their comeback. Many teams would have let their heads drop following the half time deficit. They did not do that, and following their first goal, always looked likely to make a comeback given half a chance. The clean sheets of early season suddenly seem a long time ago. Fortunately so do the goalscoring blanks. The return of Graham Lancashire seems a Godsend. He has been written off by many as a result of his injury problems, but he seems the perfect striker at the moment. We should certainly be securing his long term future sooner rather than later.

On paper, this was a good point, which extends our run to one defeat in ten matches. The circumstances leading to this point obviously takes the shine off

Photo: Action Images

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