Rochdale went out of the LDV Vans thing last night at the hands of Tranmere Rovers but sod all that, Paul Tait scored a brace for Rochdale!!!!! Read on for full report and ratings.

Round 2 of that stupid mickey mouse LDV thing and we hit the road to my Mersey Paradise to take on Brian Little's Tranmere Rovers at Prenton Park.  Unfortunately, well, losing the game was better than having to stay for extra time and penalties but anyway, we exited the competition after going down 3-2 despite going 2-1 up and guess what, PAUL TAIT SCORED BOTH!!!!

Steve Parkin made six changes to the team that drew 2-2 with Chester and fielded a side that would be more likely seen at Dark Lane of a Wednesday afternoon which I was all for as it gave certain players a chance to push for places.  Parkin opted for a 4-3-3 and there was a change in the defensive partnership as Gareth Griffiths returned from suspension to partner Jon Boardman.  The midfield consisted of the forgotten Neil Brisco, Scott Warner and captain Gary Jones.  Grant Holt was ruled out with injury and Paul Tait came into partner Lambert and Sturrock up front. 

Both sides started off quite well and the game was played at a quick tempo and both sides had chances very early on with Dale going close through the in form Blair Sturrock who forced Achterberg into make a save.

With just six minutes gone, Tranmere took the lead through the much travelled Delroy Facey.  Tranmere is Facey's eighth club since July 2004 which I find staggering.  Griffiths failed to deal with the ball in the box and Facey stole in to have a shot which Gilks could only palm onto the underside of the crossbar and into the back of the net to make it 1-0 Rovers.

Just a couple of minutes later and I thought I was dreaming.  Rickie Lambert did well to keep the ball in as the defender tried to shield it out of play and he played it back to "The Difference" Paul Tait who side footed past Achterberg and actually into the net!!  Only his 4th goal in two and a half seasons and his first this season and I'm told my face was a picture when the goal went in and a lot of comments were passed my way.

Rochdale went close shortly after as well when Rickie Lambert got a shot in but his effort flew past the post to the disappointment of the away fans.

With five minutes to go before half time, the prolific and ever dangerous Paul Tait was on hand to score yet another blistering effort.  Does he ever get bored of scoring?  Tranmere failed to clear the ball and that left the way open for Taiters to have a pop from the edge of the area and it took a huge deflection to take it past the keeper.  This sparked off songs you would never ever imagine hearing such as "Same old Taity, always scoring!" and "Paul Tait is the white Pele" and "We've seen "The Difference" score."  It was such a shock to one person behind us that he tried to convince us it was Gary Jones!

The second half was going Rochdale's way and at 2-1 it looked like we'd be in the hat for the next round but Brian Little changed things around by sticking a third striker on and it paid dividends.

Ian Goodison should have equalised but managed to hit his effort from about three yards out straight at Gilks when he should definitely have scored.

It wasn't long before they found that equaliser and it came via Danny Harrison who smashed the ball goalwards and like the first Tranmere goal, Sgt Gilko got a hand to it which forced it into the top corner to make it 2-2.

Alan Goodall nearly put Dale in front again when he headed on goal but his header missed the far post by a fraction and you could see his disappointment.  Rickie Lambert also had an effort on goal from the edge of the box after Sturrock played the ball back to him but Rickie scuffed it so badly it hit the top of the stand and it was a big stand as well. 

With nearly fifteen minutes to go and the same looking like it could go to extra time, we were saved from that possibility as Alan Goodall brought down Delroy Facey in the box with a poorly mistimed tackle.  Chris Greenacre stepped up and smashed the ball down the middle of the goal to make it 3-2 to the League One side.

Paul Tait nearly got a hatrick (Can't believe I've just written that!) when he did a quite sublime Cruyff turn to skin his marker (equally as unbelievable) and managed to get a shot away but the keeper managed to save it.

With the game nearing it's end, Rochdale had two good shouts for goals.  The first one was a corner swung in and met well by Jon Boardman and it did look to be cleared from behind the line but the linesman wasn't having any of it.  From the resulting corner, Boardman met it again and it was blocked and Blair Sturrock poked it towards goal and that was cleared off the line also.  That time though, I didn't think it was a goal despite the protests from fans and a few of the Dale players.

Full time came and we escaped a freezing cold Prenton Park having lost the game and now being able to concentrate on the league.  There were lots of positives to come out of the game though like Paul Tait's goals and the fact we nearly beat a team from a higher division with six changes to the team.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 7 Better performance and wasn't to blame for any of the goals

Gary Brown 7 Got stuck in as usual and did alright against higher opposition

Alan Goodall 7 Put in some super tackles and his pace helped in a slow defence.  He did give away the penalty though

John Boardman 7 Other than a couple of wayward passes, he did well did JB

Gareth Griffiths 5 Thought he was poor to be honest but he's not played for three games and if he's to get a bad one out of the way, last night was a good time for it

Scott Warner 6 A battling performance as ever from Scott but a few passes went astray

Neil Brisco 7 A fairly quiet night for Brisco who just got on with his job

Gary Jones 7 Plenty of running but limped off in the second half

Rickie Lambert 6 Not brilliant but did ok, looked good with the ball at his feet but this wasn't too often

Blair Sturrock 7 Did alright did Lionel.  Some very clever runs and he managed to stay onside for most of them

PAUL TAIT 9 I never thought I'd see the day I'd give Taiters Man of the Match but fair play to the fella, he deserved it last night.  Still needs to put a lot more performances like that in though to change my mind

Sub:  

Jamie Clarke 6 On for a fair chunk of the second half and didn't look too comfortable to be fair

Photo: Action Images

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