It's a couple of days late but anyway, here is the report from this weekends Bristol Rovers game. Dale could only come away from the Memorial Ground with a point after a goalless draw with Bristol Rovers.

Rochdale took on Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium with the knowledge that a win in this game and a win on Tuesday night would see Dale into the playoffs with a bit of luck but Dale only came away from Bristol with a point after a 0-0 draw. 

Steve Parkin was left with a selection problem as Wayne Evans was suspended and Daryl Burgess injured leaving Jamie Clarke the only real option for the right back slot and Tony Gallimore came in to replace the injured Greg Heald.  Other than that it was the same team that saw off Grimsby Town on Tuesday night.  Matt Gilks was in net with Jamie Clarke, Alan Goodall, Tony Gallimore and Gareth Griffiths in defence.  Scott Warner, Gary Jones and Rickie Lambert were in midfield with Leo Bertos, Paul Tait and Grant Holt up front.  Danny Woodhall, Kevin Gibbins, Ernie Cooksey, Leighton McGivern and Marcus Richardson on the bench.

The game started off very scrappy and both teams created half chances.  Grant Holt could have put Dale in the lead very early on but his shot was tame after picking the ball up in midfield, to be fair he was too far out for a shot but you never know with Holt!

Holt went quite close on the quarter hour mark as well after Lambert played a superb pass for the 21 goal hitman to run on to but his effort was weak again and the keeper made a comfortable save.

Bristol went close just 3 minutes later when Junior Agogo had an effort well saved by Matt Gilks, he tried to cross it but it ended up as a shot and Gilks managed to get a hand to it to pull it away and Jamie Clarke cleared the danger.

The Pirates should have gone ahead when poor Dale defending allowed Walker in for a free header on target but he headed straight at Gilks.  It was definitely the best chance of the game which should have been taken but thankfully it wasn't.

Dale managed again to keep the scores level when Bristol Rovers had a corner which hit Walker and was eventually cleared off the line by Alan Goodall.

A very poor and very cold first half came to an end with not too much to write about as you can see.  If Dale were going to win then they had to be a lot better in the second half and Steve Parkin kept them in the changing for what seemed like days but they finally arrived for the second half at least 5 minutes after Bristol Rovers.

Dale looked better in the second half but it still wasn't enough to break the deadlock.  Grant Holt had a good chance to get a shot away but instead chose to square the ball to the on-coming Tait but the ball was cleared and the chance went. 

Bristol Rovers again had an effort cleared off the line, this time it was Rickie Lambert doing the defensive work after Anderson had stole in ahead of his marker to get a header in from a corner but thankfully Lambert was there.  The home side had created enough chances and looked dangerous on the attack but Gareth Griffiths was once again in immense form and broke up lots of attacks.

Leo Bertos had been poor and we were calling for him to be replaced by McGivern but in all honesty I didn't expect McGivern to come on and I thought Richardson was going to instead but Parkin obviously realises that Richardson is not good enough and McGivern did come on for Bertos on 75 minutes and he had a positive effect on the game from his first kick as he was linking up well with Holt and Tait and nearly stole in a couple of times.

Rickie Lambert went centimetres away from nicking the winner with a thunderous shot from around 25 yards which smashed against the crossbar and the bar was still shaking about 5 minutes later it was hit that hard!

McGivern showed why he should be used more than he is when he broke down the right well and got to the by-line before pulling the ball back but it was played behind Holt and Paul Tait who didn't have the best of games, mistimed his run and couldn't make the most of it.

Tait should have opened the scoring again but when he got the ball at his feet, he got all muddled up and totally miss-kicked his effort resulting in an easy clearance.

The game came to an end finally and both managers had to settle for a goalless draw.  Dale entertain Northampton on Tuesday night and a win is vital if Dale are to make a push for the playoffs though Wayne Evans and Daryl Burgess will still both be out.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 6 Made a decent save but was untroubled other than that

Jamie Clarke 6 Did ok but he was dragged inside a lot leaving the winger too much room

Alan Goodall 6 Tried to get forward as much as he could and at times he broke and Clarke broke leaving the defence exposed but not too bad a performance

Tony Gallimore 6 Not a bad performance from Galli but not as good as midweek

GARETH GRIFFITHS 8 My M.O.M by a distance, made several crucial interceptions and tackles

Scott Warner 7 Got in stuck in very well and even his passing was good today

Gary Jones 7 Best performance for a while but still not quite there

Rickie Lambert 7 Went closest for Dale and did well again

Leo Bertos 5 Poor today, struggled to get the ball and did nothing when he did get it

Paul Tait 6 Won a fair few headers but never ever looked like scoring!  Same as usual then!

Grant Holt 6 Off game for Holt.  Created little and still managed to kick people about and pick a yellow card.

Sub:  

Leighton McGivern 7 Came on and nearly created a goal, based on that he should be considered to start 

Photo: Action Images

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