Men at work

Darlington FC 1 - 2 Rochdale AFC

Journey:

I drive slowly. I am famous for it. Ask anyone. I am Captain Slow.

So it was something of a surprise when I got a speeding ticket on the way to Darlington.

How do you get a speeding ticket for doing 42 in a 60? Easy! Because 300 meters of the East Lancs Road had been converted to a 30. Uncannily, there were two Police cars and a motorcycle parked right next to that section - that was lucky wasn't it?

I have previously reflected that people don't concentrate when they are driving - well how red is my face? I didn't see the signs. The nice Police man didn't seem happy with this as an explanation. He also explained that the 30 zone had been put there to guarantee the safety of the men working on the road.

I was bound to ask - 'well, where are they then?'. 'They finished half an hour ago' was the reply. So I guess they are as safe as they will ever be.

Some might say that this was little better than a revenue generation exercise by Greater Manchester Police. Personally, I think the safety of non-existent workmen is a very important cause - although at £60 and 3 points on my licence, the donation seems slightly excessive.

Aside of the compulsary stationary traffic around Leeds the rest of the journey passed off without incident and I arrived in Darlington at 18:45.

Weather:

It was dark - I couldn't see any.

Food:

So here's the thing... Mrs. Eden-Maughan has gone on a diet. Which means that I am on a diet. Essentially this means water and dust (which are low in calories) and not pies (which are high in calories).

In spite of what Playboy Dan and Amancalledshaun may tell you, A steak pie smothered in two sachets of brown sauce did not pass my lips ...because I am on a diet.

Ground:

Have you seen 'Field of Dreams'? Basically it is about an American farmer who builds a Baseball field because a ghostly voice told him, 'if you build it, they will come'.

The Darlington Arena is a little like that. Except for the, 'they will come' part.

It is big - really big, well planned - lots of parking, bars, food stalls etc and it is undeniably beautiful. It is the best ground in League Two by some distance - and would give several Championship grounds a run for their money. The problem is - it is empty.

I came here for the Play-Off game last season - even then, one whole side of the ground was empty. Without the excitement of promotion to spur the locals on, the place was a pretty forlorn spectacle tonight - vast areas of empty seats. There were perhaps 400 Dale fans in the Arena this evening - but it didn't really help.

The ground is now sponsored by a local newspaper - The Northern Echo. Sad but true.

Action:

Dale have signed a Cricketer! Yes, you are reading that correctly. 18 year old Craig Dawson, amateur Cricketer and Footballer, has signed on this week. Aparrently he is a defender. It is an interesting move - especially considering that Rochdale have let all of their reserve defenders go out on loan. Perhaps he will be more than a 12th man.

So following defeat to Brentford at the weekend, Mr. Hill had indicated that there might be changes. Which was a cue for everyone's pet theories to be wheeled out.

I feel very strongly that St. Adam should be starting every game - afterall, he is Dale's top scorer. The Thompson/Dagnall experiment has been interesting - but since the Aldershot game it hasn't looked massively convincing. I like the big man/little man combination - LeFondre with either Thorpe or McEvilly would be my pick.

Mr. Keane is adamant that Adam Rundle must start every game. He is Rundle's number one fan. This is the latest chapter in his long running 'wingers' theory. It has been developing for around ten years now - and don't I know it.

As it turned out, we would both be happy.

Thorpe and St. Adam up front, Rundle on the left of midfield. Thompson and Buckley would drop to the bench. Following his 'out-of-sorts' performance at the weekend McArdle had suffered a knock in training and would be replaced by Simon Ramsden at centre half.

Rochdale did not start the game well. A very businesslike Darlington side rolled forward and had Dale under pressure from the opening minutes. Darlo would generate five or six attempts on goal in the opening 25 minutes - although few required Fielding to make a save. It was desperate stuff at times with Ramsden clearing the the ball off the line from one Quakers attack.

However, on 28 minutes, it was Dale who would take the lead. From a another failed Darlo thrust Rochdale surged upfield and delivered the ball to St. Adam just inside the area. He twisted away from his man and delivered a blistering finish past a flailing Gerken in the Quakers goal. 1-0 Dale!

Darlington continued to push - but by luck and judgement, Rochdale held firm. Concerningly, Gary Jones began to hobble, then limp and finally subsided onto the turf. He would be replaced by Keltie just before half time - as an ex-Darlington player and captain, Keltie received a lively reception from the Darlo faithful.

Half time. Records. As most people know Rochdale are the longest serving club in League Two - or Division Four in old money. Not a record they relish. Tonight would also mark another milestone - Rochdale became the team Darlington have played most often in their long history. However, Rochdale appear to have broken another record. Dale have scored in every one of their last 23 league games (including tonight) - I have checked this, it is true - which according to Mr. Turner is an English league record. I have scoured the internet for verification - but can't find it. Help?

Second half.

Things did not start well for Darlo. Their on-loan striker Liam Hatch attempted some rough and tumble with Fielding and came off much the worst. An age would go by as a stretcher was summoned from the touchline. He would be replaced by Carlton.

However, things almost immediately perked up for the home side when on 60 minutes Pawel Abbott took advantage of some slip-shod defending of a Quakers corner-kick to poke home from close range. 1-1.

... and then got worse again. Darlo old boy Adam Rundle had been on the receiving end of some rough handling by the home crowd. I am certain he took no pleasure in volleying home LeFondre's cross on 62 minutes at all. 2-1!

... and then worse still, when on 63 minutes the Quakers captain, Ricky Ravenhill, was offered an early bath for a two footed stamp on another Darlo old boy, Scott Wiseman. Mind you, seconds earlier Darlington left back, Austin, had attempted a similar lunge on Adams - which should probably have merited a dismissal. Ravenhill's dismissal followed directly in the wake of Mr. Friend's decision to let play go on.

With Darlo now down to ten men, Dale pushed for a third. But in spite of their best efforts - and there were many - the third goal did not materialise. The pick of the opportunities being Thorpe's 'cheeky' chip over the stranded keeper - which was headed off the line.

Mr. Friend added on 9 full minutes of stoppage time and Darlington staged a spirited rally which caused a few nervy moments for Dale - but to no effect. 2-1 it remained.

Summary:

Workmanlike. Gone was the flashy interchanging strikers concept - back was trusty old 4-4-2. Dale didn't look like a team who were trying to impress the opposition to death anymore - they looked like a highly professional outfit who were there to win a game of football.

Darlington are a good side, with good players. However, spurned opportunities and alarming indiscipline worked against them.

For Rochdale, Thorpe and LeFondre looked sharp upfront - Mr. Keane's favourite, Rundle, turned in an excellent performance and Ciaran Toner did what Ciaran Toner does best - a thousand simple things very well.

I just wish Dale could defend set-pieces. I really do.

A good, solid performance, a bit of luck and a great result.

Turner Watch:

Is he making it up? Is it really an English league record? Answers on a postcard please.

24/02/09

Television

Darlington FC 2 - 1 Rochdale AFC

Journey:

04:30 hrs - bolt upright in bed - it's today! Rochdale are in the play-off's and I have a ticket!

Admittedly, it was just a little early to set off - so the next eleven hours were spent scouring the TV for any news about Dale. Nothing. Well if you exclude the advert on Sky promising 'exclusive' live coverage of this afternoon's game. I imagine ESPN, Canal+ and RTL were gutted.

The coverage of Dale's extraordinary centenary season on the telly has been - well - non-existent. Considering everything that Mr. Hill has achieved - with a budget you could comfortably carry in your trouser pocket - hardly a moment of precious airtime has been devoted to Rochdale. In contrast I have been subjected to seemingly endless coverage of MK Dons 'fairytale season' - in this particular case the fairytale included several hundred thousand pounds. Even Stockport County got five full minutes on North West Tonight - I mean c'mon!

After hours of frustration the fingers on the clock finally crawled round to 2:30pm - and as if by magic - Mr. Keane appeared. And when Mr. Keane appears all his little friends appear as well: Mr. Mitchell, Keane jr and in a real turn up for the books: Mr. Keane snr. Due to space pressures in my car Messers Jones, Turner and McCabe would be travelling in the 'B' car - ably piloted by Mr. Jones.

After a minor SatNav moment we were underway. M62, M1, A1, A66 - 1hr 30mins - done.

Most of the journey was spent Dale coach spotting - we counted 12 or 13 in total. Amazing. In the tradition of such trips we had a trivia question posed by Mr. Mitchell:

Name the nine players, capped by England whose surname begins and ends with the same letter.

We managed Scholes and Stiles. Please feel free to chip in.

Weather:

Hot, hot, hot!

Food:

Catastrophic pie failure.

When I made the trip to the pie shop I discovered that there were simply no more pies. Considering that this game was an all ticket affair - it wouldn't seem unreasonable that Darlo could have planned to have enough pies. Sadly not however. All that was left were jumbo packs of prawn cocktail crisps and packets of Starburst - not really traditional football fayre.

Ground:

The Darlington Arena is a truly amazing place. Clean, modern, symetrical and quite the best ground I have visited this season - or any other for that matter. There was even plenty of parking - although getting away from the ground proved to be a much bigger trial than getting in.

Pleasingly the people of Rochdale had abandoned their traditional pursuits of benefit fraud, robbing each others houses, shooting up and becoming involved in drunken brawls - 3500 had made the trip to the north east of England.

Being (apparently) the only person in Rochdale who is in gainful employment - I missed Jonathan Swain's sensationalistic run out on GMTV last week. However, based on Mr. Swain's approach to journalism I can confidently make the following statements:

All men from Ireland are called Paddy.

Everyone in Scotland has ginger hair.

All women from Wales are called Blodwyn.

Everyone from London is a loveable chimney sweep.

Everyone from Liverpool was in the Beatles.

I know these things to be true - because I know of at least one person from that locale who fits the description. It's obvious when you think about it...

With just over 4500 Darlo added to Dale's 3500 fans the atmosphere approaching the game was amazing. The only pity was that one whole side of the ground was empty.

Action:

5.35pm - go time!

A truly frantic start from both teams. Nerves clearly in evidence - errors from both sides contributed to an open and exciting first ten minutes. Darlo having a great effort from Wiseman denied by quick reactions from Lee, Dale's Dagnall denied from 22 yards by the underside of the cross-bar.

However, far from spurring Dale on, Dagnall's blast signalled the high water mark for Dale in the first period. From here onwards it was pretty well all Darlo.

Jones and Perkins in the heart of the Dale midfield found themselves overwhelmed by Darlington and chance after chance followed for the Quakers.

It seemed only a matter of time before Darlington would reap their just rewards. On 29 minutes they did.

Darlo's Kennedy flummoxed McArdle before unleashing an exquisite curling shot past Lee into the top corner. It chokes me to say it - but this truly was an excellent goal. 1-0.

The balance of the half was little better than damage limitation for Dale. The Quakers continued to comprehensively outplay Rochdale and created chances to further extend their advantage. Only a grimly determined rear guard action - with Lee starring - prevented further embarrasment.

Half time was a mercy.

Hats. Earlier in the season my colleague Mr. Keane had been quite strident on the topic of my millinery selections. Therefore imagine my surprise when Mr. Keane turned up wearing a brown, leather pork pie hat. Some people will do literally anything to get their fizog on the telly - see earlier comments re. Mr. Swain.

The highlight of halftime was a sneak preview of the 2008/9 home shirt. They aren't supposed to be available yet - but one lucky young lady had got her hands on one and was proudly showing it off. It's a good looking shirt - Inter Milan - or - Gillingham - dependant upon your aspirations.

The second half began cautiously - Darlo seemed content to defend and break, Dale struggled to get a hold on the game.

Very often a game can turn on the attitude of one or two players - this is what happened today. Around five minutes in Jones and Dagnall decided it was time to take the game to the Quakers - and they did.

Just as Darlington had dominated the first half - Dale, led by Jones and Dagnall poured forward. Darlo's first half supremacy evaporated.

Chance followed chance as Rochdale turned the screw. The only surprise was that it took Dale until the 70 minute mark to level things up. A smart turn from Dagnall, a rasping shot, a deflection - GOAL! Stockdale in the Darlington goal didn't even move. 1-1.

With things now level - Dale pressed onward for a winner. After the horror show in the first half, it was a joy to see Dale play the way they know they can.

However, as full time approached 1-1 it remained. If I had been offered the draw at 4:30am this morning - I would have taken it. Not a bad result...

And then things went wrong.

A rare Quakers attack culminated in an ill considered challenge from Jones which saw Darlo's Wainwright sprawling and Jones in the referee's book. Wainwright dusted himself down to take a deep angled free kick - Lee saw the danger and rushed off his line to punch clear - he missed - Miller headed the ball into the vacant net - 2-1 for Darlington. A wave of silent disbelief spread over the Rochdale fans.

But it wasn't quite over - with just seconds to go USS Howe smashed the ball toward the Darlo goal - only a solid block from Stockdale prevented Dale from re-levelling the tie.

2-1 it stayed.

Summary:

A woeful first half, an extraordinary second half. 1-1 would probably have been fair - but Darlo hung in there and nicked it at the death.

A great game, a brilliant location - not an ideal result, but not a disaster. The maths for the home fixture are pretty stark - score twice, don't concede.

Believe The Sign.

Turner Watch:

Shorts - I need say no more.

10/05/08