Arguably Rochdale’s first poor league performance saw them come away from Sheffield with nothing as Rotherham United took the points in a 2-1 victory.

No prizes for guessing who scored the first goal for Rotherham, unless you had money on it like some did. 

With Luton now in the Blue Square Premier, I’m nominating Rotherham as the worst away day. 

Yes, there’s a decent boozer before the game but the ground is easily the worst in which to watch a game of football. 

It was even worse this time around given that a third of the pitch was yellow while the rest was green. 

This would have been down to Bono who along with the rest of his mediocre U2 band, were at Don Valley on Thursday and Saturday. 

Maybe if they’d done a decent album since 1987 they’d have been playing a better venue. 

There were a couple of changes to the Dale line-up with Chris O’Grady coming straight into the team with Adam Rundle dropping to the bench and Will Buckley swapping his striking role for a wing role. Nathan Stanton returned from suspension and replaced Marcus Holness. 

Dale lined up with Arthur, Flynn, TK, Stanton, Dawson, Buckley, Thompson, Jones, JK, Dagnall, and O’Grady. 

On the bench were Edwards, Holness, Wiseman, Stephens, Rundle, Spencer and Shaw. Both sides had their chances in the first half and the score should really have been a lot different. 

Rotherham had two early chances with Tom Pope heading straight at Arthur while he also headed wide not long after. 

Joey T did well down the right for Dale and he put in a low ball for Buckley but his low shot was poor and wide of the goal before Chris Dagnall hit a powerful shot at Bury reject Andy Warrington. 

Buckley again had a good chance but failed to take it after O’Grady had done well to set him up but his effort was weak and wide of the post. 

Adam Le Fondre was looking in superb form for Rotherham and it wasn’t long before he was having a major influence.   

Kenny Arthur took too long to clear a ball and Le Fondre had closed him down enough to have the ball blasted at him, he took the ball under control and slotted into the empty net, only for the linesman to have his flag up for handball which I thought was rather harsh.  A let off for Dale. 

Another let off was had when a penalty shout was turned down after an apparent handball by Flynn (I think) but the referee wasn’t’ interested. 

Chris O’Grady did superbly running onto a ball from Jones and cutting inside but his finish was very poor as he dragged his shot wide though that could have been blamed on the pitch which looked more like a cricket wicket than a football pitch in the Rotherham half of the pitch. 

I blame Bono! 

Then came the sucker punch. 

Stanton dived in really late on the winger as he broke forward and picked up a yellow card. 

The freekick was swung in and Adam Le Fondre stole in to nod it past Arthur into the back of the net. 

Alfie didn’t celebrate the goal.  

Two minutes later and with the half time whistle ready to be blown, Dale equalised.  The scrappiest of goals but they all count. 

The Rotherham defence went walkabouts as Chris Dagnall nipped into the box and somehow bundled the ball into the back of the net. 

One all but I still didn’t feel confident of getting anything from the game. 

The second half arrived and Alfie could have given Rotherham the lead again but his volley went over the bar to the relief of the travelling fans. With an hour played, Rotherham did take the lead. 

The Dale defence reacted too slow to stop Paul Warne from getting on the end of a cross which he directed past Arthur having got in front of Stanton. 

Le Fondre didn’t celebrate this goal either as he walked off to his own half while the rest of the team celebrated. 

That seemed like it to me, no way back for Dale. 

Chris O’Grady was impressive on debut and held the ball up superbly but he looked rusty in front of goal but he linked up very well with Jones to create a chance which he smashed straight at Warrington. 

Adam Rundle came on for the slightly disappointing Will Buckley as Dale went in search of the equaliser. 

Another Dale substitution shortly after saw Scott Spencer replace Joe Thompson as Dale went three up front. 

Aside from a couple of half chances from O’Grady and Spencer, this didn’t work and Dale reverted to a long ball game really. 

The game petered out then until stoppage time and Dale went after the equaliser with four minutes of stoppage time signalled and it nearly came. 

O’Grady skinned Dale Tonge to get a shot away but it was very well saved by Warrington.

Dale had one last chance when Spencer was brought down rather softly on the edge of the box.  It looked like the perfect position for a TK shot but he laid it off to Jones instead who blasted the ball goalwards. 

His shot was blocked, looped up into the air and Dagnall’s unconventional style volley was well saved and Warrington somehow clawed the ball away as it looked to be going over the line. 

The game finished 2-1 to Rotherham which sees Dale pick up just 4 points from their first 4 games and suffer back to back defeats. 

The positives to take from the game for me were a) we don’t have to go there again this season, b) Chris O’Grady had a fine debut but just lacks a little sharpness and c) Joe Thompson’s good form continued and d) the new kits look good.

The negatives were that a) Adam Le Fondre showed just how much we’re going to miss him, anyone who thinks we wont is kidding themselves, b) The defence looked more shaky with Stanton there, c) Arthur’s kicking led us into trouble a couple of times and d) Rotherham weren’t that good a side but we never looked like winning the game. 

Oh and, e) Bury are next up!

Photo: Action Images

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