What was all the fuss about?
Having queued a bit longer than I normally would do
to get into Spotland, I was expecting to see a pitch on its last legs,
resuscitated for one last five minute spell to see us through one more
game. The reality had the pitch in a fantastic state, looking almost
pictureseque with its border of snow.
But it did go to show the fantastic efforts that
had taken place by both club and supporters over the last few days to
not only get the pitch in such a state to satisfy the referee but also
to allow us to play the sort of football that we've been spoiled with in
recent times.
And wasn't it worth all the hours put in to sort
it out. Or so the vast majority of the bumper crowd of 4300 thought
which included such glitterati as England international footballers and
Page Three girls. With almost 4000 of those in attendance coming (from
out the woodwork) to support Dale, it was a great afternoon to be a
supporter of League Two's leading team, as once again Dale put on a
great display which was rewarded with four goals.
But it was far from being an easy victory.
Undoubtedly, the opening exchanges belonged to the visitors as they
raced out of the blocks, and they could have easily have found
themselves a goal to the good inside the first five minutes.
After a couple of signs that they were much more
than a team of walking wounded, they had a great opportunity to take the
lead. The ball broke to Michael Twiss in an almost perfect
position, and as he pulled his foot back to shoot, I'd called it as 1-0
based on what a good chance it was, but Tom Heaton produced a very good
save low down to keep the scoreline even.
But that scare for us gave confidence to the
visitors and they continued to press. We didn't seem overly concerned at
this, but for the more nervous amongst us, it was not the start we
wanted.
Those nerves lasted until approximately twelve
minutes into the game. A break down the left wing from Will Atkinson,
who had gone close himself moments earlier, pulled the ball back to
Chris O'Grady. His first attempt was blocked but yet again, O'Grady
showed what wonderful reactions that he has by poking the ball into the
back of the net before the Morecambe defence had even twigged where the
ball was. All the Shrimps defence could do was watch, and they'd not
even been charged £20 for the privilege.
Minutes later, it was 2-0 courtesy of the best
1-2 between Dale players since Paddy and Kev decided to get going at the
Shay that night. Dagnall picked up the ball just into the Morecambe
half, and gave it to the other Chris. As soon as he'd released the ball,
he'd started his run and O'Grady had no issues turning the ball back
into his path to give him a one on one. A little shimmy from our
favourite Scouser saw the Morecambe keeper drop to the floor and give
Daggers an open net. The desperate attempt by one hapless defender
to get back saw him land in a pile of snow at the back of the net.
At this stage, I've no doubt that there was
visiting Morecambe supporters who couldn't believe what they were
viewing. A vey promising start from themselves and they found themselves
two goals down. I'd go as far as saying that they were actually playing
very well, but when it clicks for us, there's no stopping us, and it
took a superb save from Roche to deny O'Grady a second goal. By this
time we were in cruise control and the first talk of "how many?"
appeared.
The most frustrating thing about the first half
was the position of the linesmen, who were on the "wrong side". I'd
spent half of my time like some sort of Wimbledon pigeon looking around
for errant flags. And even the players got in on the act at one stage.
We were rampant at this point. Very content to
sit back and allow the visitors to come after us but ready to pick them
off at will and Chris Dagnall was thwarted by the woodwork as he
volleyed the ball off the cross bar. I'd hate to be playing us right
now.
Such was the game in the bag, that we were quite
relieved for a small amount of controversy in the second half to give us
some talking points. Dagnall seemed to survive about half a dozen
attempts on his legs at one stage, and it was only his honesty and
tenacity which prevented the official blowing up - a fact Dagnall
pointed out to him seconds later when a free kick was given to the
visitors for something innocuous.
That moaning probably came back to bite Dagnall
on the backside as a few seconds later, when a great ball through for
Daggers was brought back for a free kick on Tom Kennedy. The referee
booked the offending Morecambe player, almost out of justification for
stopping the play in a decision that incurred the wrath of both Dale and
Morecambe supporters.
But if that yellow card was weak, Morecambe were
extremely lucky to remain with eleven players. In front of the main
stand, as McArdle broke the tackle before having his legs swept from
beneath him. Not even close to an attempt of a tackle, just a cynical
and petulant attempt to bring someone down and it could only have been
sympathy from the Preston based official to not issue a red card.
Talk after the game was of the potential of this
Dale side to score the perfect goal. Well they can't have been too far
off when we made it 3-0 with around twenty minutes to go. Some lovely
one touch football saw Adam Rundle feed Tom Kennedy in, and a perfect
cross from TK saw Will Atkinson leaping tall to head home. Wingers
aren't supposed to score headers. Rule #782 broken under the Hillcroft
regime.
And them from out of nowhere, Morecambe pulled a
goal back coming via Wayne Curtis. Up until this moment, Curtis's
biggest contribution was getting Dale supporters to question each other
with the words "fifty thousand pounds?"
Curtis broke clear of the back line, and
narrowly avoiding a last gasp tackle from Craig Dawson, he put a downer
on the afternoon by sliding it past Tom Heaton to give the Shrimps a
glimour of hope.
3-0 and f****d it up? Well I have to admit, once
they'd pulled it back to 3-1, the thought of some footballing symmetry
crossed my mind, and it took a great clearance from Rory McArdle to
prevent their tally being doubled straight away.
But then came second gear.
We came close when Barry Roche produced yet
another fine save from Chris O'Grady to keep Dale at three goals, but
seconds later he was powerless to do anything about us increasing our
lead.
Good work from loan man Taylor, who powered past
the diminutive Hunter down the left wing as if he wasn't there, and he
cut the ball back to Atkinson who turned the ball in to make it 4-1 and
for a brief moment, Jason Kennedy credited with his first goal for Dale
since he directed David Perkins' shot into the top corner in the Play
Offs that time.
Any hopes at all we now diminished, and it was
more of a case of "3-0 and that's what you should do if you want make
sure you end up with all three points". Not that it's particularly easy
to squeeze that into a chant.
That fourth goal saw the visiting heads drop
even further and prompted some away supporters to call it a day to the
chant of "We can see you sneaking out" when arguably there were more
Dale fans leaving at the same time.
The last few minutes could have seen Dale add to
their lead, but we played out time with a smile on our faces rather than
in a desperate search for further goals, and the news filtering through
of two late goals for Bournemouth did nothing to sour the faces - after
all, it's only about us.
The final whistle saw somewhat predictably Sammy
McIlroy coming on to the pitch to remonstrate with the referee. God only
knows what he was complaining about this time, but it's become almost
commonplace for games between ourselves and the Shrimps to finish in
such a way. For a game almost devoid of a bad challenge or controversial
incident, we can only assume McIlroy didn't get what he wanted for
Christmas.
The three points were a well deserved one, and
whilst no doubt there'll be some visiting fans incorrectly claiming that
Morecambe deserved something from this game, it was a case of this
highly confident Dale side playing without a shred of fear, with such
clinical play, that we don't need to dominate possession to score plenty
of goals.
We were up against a good side today, and whilst
we were fortunate to avoid facing a side including Jevons and Mullin, we
showed at 3-1, there's a second gear if need be. God help the sides to
face the third, fourth and fifth. Perhaps Dave Sutton's pledge will come
true albeit 18 years too late.
So we head into 2010 in first place, and the
annual race to fifty points was all but forgotten about as survival was
secured a long, long time ago, with Dale currently having twice as many
points as six sides in the division, and a mammoth fourteen points
between ourselves and the side in fourth place.
We are now in such a position that the answer to
every "When was the last time we........." question is now "We haven't".
This is history in the making people.
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