Shrewsbury 2 Rochdale 3

24/02/2007

Rochdale went into this game well rested after not having a game for sometime due to various postponements. Dale had won both their games so far in 2007 and Shrewsbury were in decent form sitting high up the IFA league table. Fixtures against Shrewsbury have been traditionally tough and a hard game was anticipated by the Dale squad who were missing Mark Woodall and Anthony Kaminskas for this trip.

Dale lined up with the versatile Crossley taking up a striking role with Milnes moving out to left midfield. Debutant Liam Ratcliffe started on the right wing. Harwood was at left back.

Rochdale started the game like a house on fire launching attack after attack and coming close to breaking the deadlock on several occasions. Ratcliffe was looking particularly dangerous on the right wing providing some testing crosses for the Shrews defence to deal with.

The opening goal came not long afterwards with Dale finally making their prolonged attacking spell pay off. A ball in from the right was headed back across goal and Dave Veevers got a foot to the ball at close range which the keeper saved but Luke Lloyd reacted quickest to lash it home.

Rochdale continued to attack and they had a chance for a second goal when a Shrewsbury defender handled the ball inside the box. Coluccio's determined as ever claims to take a penalty were rejected by Milnes who duly dispatched the penalty beyond the keeper and into the bottom left corner of the goal.

Shrewsbury were handed a lifeline soon after as Irving somehow ended up on the deck handling the ball in the box. A penalty was awarded but in the process Irving had managed to pick up a head injury and was replaced by Jon Hudson. This forced a reshuffle which was very confusing to remember but as far as I remember Crossley moved to centre back with Milnes going on the right wing and Hudson coming on in a left wing position. Ratcliffe moved upfront alongside Lloyd. Anyway after all this the penalty was finally taken and Coluccio made a great save down to his left (That was somehow forgotten about in the original report!) to keep Dale's two goal advantage intact.

The final 15 minutes of the half were relatively quiet compared to the first half an hour and the score was 2-0 as the teams went of for a quick half time break.

Dale were playing the second half playing up the slight incline of the pitch and the game seemed to become more end to end. Rochdale had several corners which they failed to really test the keeper from. Shrewsbury pulled a goal back when a ball through the left hand side of the Rochdale defence found its target in Shrews forward Andy Davies. He made no mistake finishing nicely past Coluccio.

Shrewsbury who were much improved in the second half were pushing for the equaliser now and had a spell of pressure. Dale were playing more on the break now and they had a chance when a cross from Liam found its way to Hudson whose first time shot went wide.

Rochdale did further increase their lead with about 15 minutes to go. The ball was out wide right with Liam who sent in a cross which got a slight flick on off Lloyd which took it past the defender. Hudson arrived at the back post to send it back across the keeper into the far corner of the net.

The celebrations were short lived though as the breathing space Dale had just earned themselves was back to the smallest margin when Shrewsbury broke through the Dale defence straight from the kick off to pull a goal back.

As legs began to tire the game became more stretched with the action moving quickly from both ends. In the end though Rochdale did enough to earn the win despite some late Shrewsbury pressure. This was a very hard fought win against a good side with the 3 points picked up pushing Dale up the table quite a few places. Its another tough test next up for Rochdale as they face league champions Rotherham at Heywood.

Line Up

1 - Jon Coluccio

2 - Dave Veevers

5 - Steve Crossley

6 - Kenny Hindle

3 - Simon Irving

7 - Craig Milnes

8 - Paul Veevers

4 - Ryan Higginbotham

11 - Jan Harwood

9 - Luke Lloyd

10 - Liam Unknown

Substitutes

14 - Jon Hudson (Replaced Irving - 30 mins)