Failure to communicate

Accrington Stanley FC 1 - 3 Rochdale AFC

Journey:

Ever lost your mobile phone? I did the next best thing this weekend - I lost the charger - predictably the battery went dead on Friday night.

I spent years avoiding having one and this weekend I realised that I can't live without one. Simple operations like meeting people for a pint or organising a family meal become like highly elaborate logic problems. This is nothing to what it can do for organising an away trip - even if it is just to Accrington.

My first mistake was trying to be clever...

Today is Mrs. Eden-Maughan's birthday. I had deployed a clever strategy of leading her to believe that I wasn't buying her a present - because I am taking her on holiday next week. However, my cunning plan was to leave for the game a little early and pick up her present (a new camera) from Curry's - thus surprising and delighting her at my thoughtfulness when I got home again. Having picked up the camera I would speed on to Mr. Keane's - pick him and Keane jnr. up and head for Accrington.

There were of course problems. I was kept waiting in Curry's Rochdale branch for fifteen minutes to discover they didn't have the one I wanted - but no matter - the sales assistant assured me that a quick trip to their Oldham branch would see me right. Oldham didn't have one either. I was desperate by now...

A further ten minutes to find any camera that was in stock and fit the bill rolled by. Then another fifteen minutes to find the right case. Finally at 14:20 I stumbled back to my car - camera in hand. There was no time to pick up Mr. Keane now - I headed straight for the ground - under normal circumstances I would just ring him and let him know... but - no phone.

Having got to the ground I used Mr. Turner's phone to ring Mrs. Eden-Maughan to see if Mr. Keane had been in touch. He had. Of course she had told him I was on my way to pick him up - which of course I wasn't. This - was going to end badly.

I finally plucked up the courage to ring Mr. Keane on Mr. Turner's phone - he sounded less than happy. Much less than happy. Fortunately, he had decided to set off after waiting for me for almost an hour. Ten minutes into the game Mr. Keane and Keane jnr trudged into the ground with faces like the proverbial thunder cloud (albeit in Mr. Keane's case clad in another pair of designer shades - where does he get them all from?). I spent the rest of the game apologising.

Two lessons emerge from this little debacle:

1) Keep your mobile phone and essential accessories about your person at all times.

2) Do not try to organise overly elaborate surprises for your nearest and dearest - you'll be sorry.

Weather:

People rave about the north eastern United States in autumn, they gush about the southern African savannah lands at sunset, enthuse about the Amazon rainforest at dawn and emote about the Alps in winter.

All these places are pretty special, but...

Try driving around eastern Lancashire on a warm sunny day. Stunning.

Food:

A cheese burger and a coke - £6. It was a big burger, very big in fact - and very tasty, but at £6 we are getting into Wembley territory. Now let's be totally frank - The Crown Ground is not Wembley.

Ground:

It would be easy to criticize the Crown Ground - or Fraser Eagle Stadium as it prefers to be called these days - one Dale fan did just this with a rather bemused steward. My guess is that the steward wasn't empowered to commission major re-development of the ground - so I suppose the rant was pretty pointless.

Accrington have recently made the leap from the Conference and the Crown Ground is unashamedly a Conference ground. The away area is located behind one goal with an overspill area to the right - it is all open. On another day - another rainier day - I suspect I would have been less tolerant of the facillities. But, in the last of the late summer sunshine - it was ideal.

1200 Dale fans made the trip - probably all nursing mild sunburn to the left side of their faces by now.

Action:

Dale had got back to winning ways last week - albeit a little fortunately. Could the words 'Dale and 'back to back wins' appear in the same sentence by the final whistle? On paper at least Accrington should present less of a challenge than Chesterfield had - but as the game started only two points separated the sides in the league.

As it transpired only two minutes separated Dale from going behind.

Some inexplicably slack Dale defending allowed Stanley's Miles to tee up from twenty yards. A dipping, rocket of a shot cleared Russel and found the back of the net. 1-0 Stanley.

What followed was quite painful to watch. Having started poorly and conceded so early, Dale proceded to be systematically ripped apart by Accrington. Chance after chance came to Stanley and only Russel's gymnastics, some spirited but slightly disjointed Dale defending and some indifferent Accrington finishing kept the deficit to one goal.

Around thirty seven minutes the ball arrived at the feet of the Shaker Maker who did what he does best - charge the opposition defences. The consequences were predictable. An ill judged lunge from Stanley's scorer, Miles, saw Buckley sprawling in the box - Mr. Probert had little doubt about the penalty - St. Adam made no mistake. 1-1.

Bouyed by the goal, Dale began to get into gear and created a few more chances - but as half time was indicated, 1-1 it remained.

During the interval, The Playboy put in his now customary appearance. He also made a very valid observation. I am not the only person eligable to complete the 101 Project - The Playboy has also been to every game this season. On that basis he asked if he could have a 101 Project T-Shirt - I was seriously considering this when he ruined it by asking if they came in medium.

International man of mystery you may be Playboy - but a medium, never.

The second half started brightly for Accrington - some nice passing gave them a golden opportunity to take the lead, but once again a poor finish bedevilled them. This was Stanley's high water mark - from this point Dale took control of the game.

Rhodes, Jones, Buckley, Rundle and LeFondre all had chances to take the lead for Dale - but in spite of all the opportunities Accrington held firm. The frustration was evident amongst the Dale players - it seemed like the goal would never come. Thankfully the deadlock was broken on 57. The Shaker Maker - who else - drove down the right flank, cut inside and delivered a powerful low shot. Arthur in the Stanley goal simply couldn't get down quickly enough. 2-1 Dale.

As now seems to be the custom, Buckley disappeared into the adoring Dale crowd. Some minutes later, his team mates dragged him out.

Dagnall joined on sixty three and added to the Dale charge. The Accrington back four were really struggling with their off-side trap and the Dale attackers sprung it again, and again, and again - but in spite of all the pressure and chances, the third goal would not come.

Worryingly, Stanley were beginning to come back into the game and had created one or two chances to level the tie.

Nerves didn't stop jangling until the onset of injury time when Rhodes latched onto a ball from Thompson and after an inelegant scramble guided the ball into the goal. 3-1.

Final whistle.

'Dale record back to back wins in glorious late summer sunshine'. Well I did tell you...

Summary:

A bad, bad start - and a determined recovery against a Stanley side who were never really out of it. But for better finishing, Stanley could have been the winners here - that said, Dale could have come away 9-1 to the good - such was the number of chances that were created.

Based on an informal vote in the carpark (pron. 'corpork' in Accrington) - Will Buckley has been promoted to football genius.

Next week see's Rochdale invaded by the gentleman scholars of the Royal Borough of Dagenham for - El Classico Del Norte. We extend a warm welcome to Messers Evans, O'Shaughnessy and their camp followers.

Turner Watch:

Mr. Turner returns from his attempts to rescue the world financial markets to provide an excellent source of shade on what proved to be a very warm day.

28/09/08