‘Weeing for men is so win.’
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| Welcome to Rochdale! (ok, actually 'goodbye'...check out the length of shadow) |
We had to win this game. Up against Reds ‘legends’ Hill, Dawson, Done and Kennedy (the latter didn’t play; shame, I was looking forward to giving him some ‘advice’), anything less than victory against those who played such starring roles in making us the 3
rd division team that we are, would’ve been nothing short of disaster. Or another way of looking at it was play-off placed Rochdale were home to 3
rd bottom Barnsley.
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| Expectant Reds fans |
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| ...and their flags |
Wilson has obviously been listening to me. M’Voto and Nyatanga were no more in the centre of defence, on-loan Ramage partnering Captain Fantastic. (I called this before the game – ask Andy). Dudgeon was swept aside at left back and Nyatanga switched over. Still not perfect, but a start. And what do we get? A CLEAN SHEET!!! Though it’s fair to say Rochdale had the majority of play and the vast majority of shots. But instead of players having all day to pick a spot, an impending challenge here and there made them rush and, remember, these are 3
rd division players. Coupled with the one time they DID break through, Turnbull pulled off a fabulous one-on-one save. So, deserved? Not really, but we certainly dug deep and the decent backing (1000+) were rewarded.
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| Blazing sunshine, floodlights on. |
Obviously, being so far away, Londontyke numbers were down, but me, Reedy and the flag made it. We joined Wadd and new lucky mascot Aimee (it was her 1st away game!) in Manchester for the 13 minute train ride to Rochdale. No wonder they’re so poorly supported, with City and United on their doorstep. Anyway, after the slagging off of Port Vale / Burslem and its football fans t’other week, I can only say positives about Rochdale. Decent fans, very humble and surroundings that don’t look like Beirut circa 1983. In fact, you can even see the surrounding Pennines from most of the town, though admittedly it was a bizarre walk to find the pub, with ‘Rochdale’s by-pass built straight through it’ (that was one of their lads). Great beers at The Baum, CAMRA pub of the year for Oldham, Bury and Rochdale, I think I read. And we even picked up a Reds’ stray, ‘Ollie’, who’d come over from Sheffield on a whim.
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| Half time at any Barnsley away game |
*** Berry. I thought he had a decent game, picking off stray passes and making tackles in midfield. In fact, the more I watched him, the better he looked.
** Damage. 1 or 2 dodgy moments, but I’ll settle for a clean sheet and the winner in every game. I’d certainly settle for not having Nyatanga and M’Voto as the centre back ‘partnership’.
* Turnbull. Faultless, though most of it was ‘bread and butter’ thanks to better defending this week. Crucial save to keep it 0-1.
Despatches:
Cole looked dangerous and really ought to have had a penalty before the one he did get. You can see why players go down easily when, if you try and stay on your feet, you get nowt. For the pen, great save from their keeper, I’ll not be too harsh on Hourihane, though it would have been nice for him to move onto 7 for the season. I believe he currently has as many as the 4 forwards put together. Treacy was barely noticeable on the wing, before being subbed. Bree looked good at right back. Oh, and ‘Winnall’ ought to be named ‘Lose Everything’ cos he does. And I think Dawson enjoyed the ‘banter’, despite losing.
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| Hourihane has last minute pen saved |
Drinks du jour: Lager lager lager. Stella, Hoegaarden, Leffe, San Miguel…a couple of random Weiss biers in the Tap. I managed to stay awake on the bus, but my hangover wasn’t any less on Sunday.
Onwards and upwards!!!!!!!!!
A
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