Dale produced a last gasp win to record their first away win of the season.

Dale produced a last gasp win to record their first away win of the season. Recent signing Isidro Diaz will get the credit for his rather lucky goal, but the win was down to the heroics of keeper Neil Edwards who pulled off some fantastic saves to keep Dale in the game during the first half.

Dale started the game fairly confidently, but there were one or two little errors which gave Carlisle opportunities to score. It's becoming the biggest cliche going when I say that Neil Edwards pulled off two or three stunning saves, but even by his own standards, he had a fantastic match. He made two saves in "one on one" situations, when Carlisle looked certain to score. We also survived a couple of goalmouth scrambles.

Despite starting well, errors had lead to Carlisle having some proper chances. Without Neil Edwards we could well have gone in at the break two or three down.

Despite all of this, Dale actually had the best chance of the first half when Mark Stuart running towards the Carlisle defence on the left hand corner of the penalty box. He pulled off a delightful little shimmy, which sent the defender AWOL. This gave Stuart a one on one, but he tried to curl it round the keeper, but it went just wide of the left hand post.

The second half saw Robbie Painter being replaced by Mark Leonard. Robbie picked up a knock in the last couple of minutes in the first half, and obviously couldn't shake it off. Five minutes into the second half, another change was made as Ian Bryson came on to replace Paul Sparrow, prompting a reshuffle on the pitch. Bayliss went to right back as he played on Tuesday in the Worthington Cup clash with Wigan and Keith Hill slotted into the back four. Bryson was far more impressive than in recent games. He took the ball in midfield and ran with it, giving Dale several opportunities, with Diaz and Stuart providing the width.

Dale were much more in control in the second half. Despite only attacking on the break, they looked very comfortable in defence. With about fifteen minutes to go, Barrow decided to go more attacking. He brought off Johnson who made some excellent tackles (another Dale cliche) bringing on Jason Peake. It did not look like Johnno had picked up an injury so it looked to be a tactical substitution. Dale's attacks increased in their frequency and Diaz could have done better on a couple of occasions when he collected the ball in space on the right.

Finally the breakthrough came, an attack down the left brought a cross from that side across the face of the goal. The ball came to Diaz who was grounded at the back post. He managed to stick out a leg at the oncoming ball. The next bit seemed to last for about ten minutes. The ball rolled goalwards hitting the post before nestling in the back of the onion bag.

The relief on the faces on the Dale fans said it all. The fans raced to the front to celebrate with heroes. We had travelled many, many miles since that February day in Hull without success. Victory was in our grasp. Carlisle desperately tried in the last few minutes to try and snatch something out of the game. They forced a succession of corners but most were met by captain Edwards who caught the crossing ball, or flicked it out for another corner.

The ref seemed to play loads of injury time, due to Peakey getting kicked within five minutes of coming on.

When the final whistle blew, the players were as happy as the supporters. People were hugging each other in celebration. There have been accusations of a lack of effort from certain players in recent days. Well one man who that could never be aimed at is Neil Edwards. he came the full length of the pitch to join in the celebrations, grabbing the badge of his shirt with pride. We won away. What price are we now for the title? (not getting carried away in the slightest)

Dale: Edwards, Sparrow(Bryson), Stokes, Hill, Bayliss, Johnson(Peake), Diaz, Painter(Leonard), Bailey, Farrell, Stuart.
 

Photo: Action Images

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