We’re through! We made bloody hard work of it but we’re through! An own goal after three minutes and a late Aaron Morley penalty got Dale over the line with a 2-1 scoreline to book a third round FA Cup date with Steve Bruce’s Toon Army at Spotland.

This is the first time I’ve written a match report based on a game I’ve watched from the comfort of my own home but here goes.

Dale lined up with Sanchez in goal, a back four of Matheson, O’Connell, Norrington-Davies and Keohane filling in at left back. A midfield three of Ryan, Morley and Camps while Done, Wilbraham and Henderson lined up in the final third. Wilbraham back in the side after the passing of his Mother last week. Stephen Dooley and Calvin Andrew returned to the bench after their injuries. Lynch, Baah, MJ, Pyke and Tavares made up the rest of the bench.

First thing noted was the state of the pitch. It was, in all honesty, like a farmer’s field. It was bloody awful. Anyway, Dale got off to the dream start when good link up play between Camps and Hendo saw Dale’s top scorer cross the ball and a seemingly easy take for the keeper was tipped into the far corner to make it 1-0.

The game became very scrappy and Dale were dealt a huge blow midway through the first half when Ian Henderson had been clattered when challenging to get on the end of a Matt Done nod-down. Hendo tried to run it off but couldn’t and came off injured with Rekeil Pyke replacing him.

Both sides had chances in the first half with O’Connell forcing the Boston keeper into a fine save when he should have scored while Wafula and Woolford both went close for the home side. Sanchez was forced into a one armed save that looked like it was going in from Knowells’ effort.

Dale began to get to grips with the first half and Pyke, for once, got ahead of his marker and managed to get a shot away which came back off the post after a marauding run from Jimmy Ryan.

Half time came and Dale went in ahead but that lead wasn’t going to last very long.

An awful start from Dale in the second half saw Boston launch an attack and Wafula smashed the cross bar, the ball was half cleared by Camps but the ball came back in and Boston’s top scorer Jordan Thewlis capitalised on O’Connell ball watching and headed past Sanchez to make it 1-1 and send the biased BT Sport and the home support into raptures, or scenes as the youngsters say.

Thewlis had another effort that Sanchez was on hand to save a low effort.

It wasn’t working for Dale and changes were needed. Stephen Dooley was brought on for Jimmy Ryan who had done fairly well in my view.

Dooley was instrumental in Dale getting back into the game as well and late, it was Dooley who went over in the box for a penalty. Luke Matheson, who had barely been able to get forward and show what he can do, had eventually managed to break, and he crossed for Dooley and we all screamed shoot but he decided to take a touch, which was absolutely awful and went away from him. He chased after his bad touch and was wiped out in the box. No arguments, penalty to Dale!

With Ian Henderson off the pitch, Aaron Morley stepped up to send the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 2-1 with less than 10 minutes left.

Calvin Andrew came on for Matt Done and went into a back three as Dale managed to just about hold on for the win.

Huge relief more than anything and back to back wins for Rochdale as we now set up a home tie with Newcastle United in the next round, also live on BT Sport.

Player Ratings:

Robert Sanchez — 7: Assured performance with his hands at least, never looked like dropping anything but was seemingly on roller blades when trying to kick the ball!
Luke Matheson — 5: Struggled a little bit to cope on the right with their winger and didn’t get forward as much as he wanted. Did cross for Dooley’s penalty challenge.
Jimmy Keohane — 7: Played well did Jimmy, only made one small mistake I could remember and was solid for the rest of the game.
Rhys Norrington-Davies — 6: Did try to get forward when he could but also slightly sloppy in possession.
Eoghan O’Connell — 8: Man of the match for me as he was rock solid at the back despite the ball watching for the Boston goal.
Aaron Morley — 6: Scored the winning goal from the spot but had struggled to get into the game prior to that.
Jimmy Ryan — 7: Thought Ryan did quite well overall, broke up play well.
Callum Camps — 6: Wanted a little too much time on the ball and was closed down quickly. Showed he was a higher standard player when he had time on the ball.
Matt Done — 5: Really struggled to get into the game and could have come off a lot earlier than he did.
Aaron Wilbraham — 7: Real presence on the pitch and great work rate as well given how much he had to track back.
Ian Henderson — 6: Not on long enough and hopefully the injury isn’t a serious one!

Subs:

Rekeil Pyke — 5: Just doesn’t do enough, struggles to win any challenges
Stephen Dooley — 7: Instrumental in us winning the game in the end
Calvin Andrew — 7: Defended brilliantly at the end

Photo: Action Images

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