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| Alex Coleman - captained the Clarets |
With Tom Anderson, James Taylor and Ben Woodhead already on the injury list, Aryn Williams saw himself join them after picking up a knock in the midweek reserve game against Oldham. He made the bench but his place in the team was taken by CofEx full back Charlie Holt. Alex Coleman retained the armband and provided the experience in the back line, while the midfield and forwards remained unchanged from the previous fixture.
The weather was glorious and the Clarets were, err, yellow. This was actually our away game but as Rochdale’s home of Ashton was in use in the FA Cup it was relocated to Gawthorpe. The first chance of the match fell to us, with a fierce low shot from Shay McCartan being smartly turned around the post by the Rochdale keeper. The corner came to nothing – a recurring theme for us throughout the first half – and for the next half an hour Rochdale fairly dominated.
On the quarter hour mark the visitors took the lead and it was all too easy. Dale played through us and we were a little guilty of switching off. The Dale forward though did control very well and rounded Josh Cook to slot home.
We should have been back in it around 35 minutes in as Jason Gilchrist beat the offside trap and ran free. He dithered way too long on the ball though and the lack of decision allowed both the keeper and a defender to challenge him in the 6 yard box.
The start of the 2nd suggested that the lads had been sufficiently geed up, as within two minutes we were level. An Archie Love indirect free kick from the left wing was drifted in and Adam Evans ghosted in to divert home.
We began to look more comfortable and composed with the ball and, as a result, created more chances. We should have had a penalty as a Dale defender momentarily switched sports to basketball, but the ref and linesman let it go. The ball broke to Alex Mullin on the right and his dinked cross was flapped at by the keeper as Gilchrist challenged. The young striker bounced up and headed home but the ref decided that the keeper (a big unit compared with Gilchrist) had been impeded.
Mullin should have has his name on the scoresheet in the 70th as he got on the end of a fast counter led by Holt, but his hurried shot bobbled wide. Dale were certainly not out of it completely and rattled the bar at the other end with a drive from distance.
We made some changes as the scorching temperatures start to take their toll and brought on three more CofEx players. Lewis Nuttall, Waqaz Azam and Will Kinder replaced McCartan, Holt and Gilchrist. It was Dale though who nearly snatched it with a shot across goal following some neat interplay in the last couple of minutes.
As injury time approached Evans saw a goal chalked off for offside. I’m going to say it was harsh (I couldn’t tell from my position but my claret tinted glasses made him look onside) but in truth it didn’t really matter.
The referee managed to find 4-5 minutes of injury time. Not sure where it came from but I’m not complaining. After 4 had been played a ball from the back from Jack Errington released Nuttall, who surged through and fired a great curling left foot shot past the keeper and into the back of the net.
Some Dale parents next to me said it was probably deserved. I’ll probably just go along with that.
Team:- Josh Cook, Charlie Holt (Waqaz Azam), Luke Conlon, Alex Coleman, Jack Errington, Steven Hewitt, Archie Love, Adam Evans, Alex Mullin, Shay McCartan (Lewis Nuttall), Jason Gilchrist (Will Kinder).
Subs not used:- Aryn Williams, Callum Jakovlevs.