Losing in front of your home crowd, you wish the ground would open up and take you down. And will time never pass? Will time never pass for us ?

Rochdale eased their way to a comfortable 2-0 win over what can only be
described as a woeful Wrexham side. Dale rarely got out of second gear, and
other than a few missed chances for the home side, seond gear was always going
to be enough for Dale to take all three points.

Dale started the game
with what on paper is our strongest side given the injury situation, Lee Crooks
was in for the injured John Doolan in the centre of midfield. Other than that it
was more or less unchanged, with Sam Russell in net, a back four of Simon
Ramsden, Nathan Stanton, Rory McArdle and Tom Kennedy. Midfield lined up as
Kallum Higginbotham and Adam Rundle on the wings with Gary Jones and Lee Crooks
in the centre. Adam Le Fondre partnered Glenn Murray up front, meaning Lee
McEvilly had to be content with a place on the bench against one of his former
clubs.

Dale started much the brighter side, with Rundle and Higgy causing
all sorts of problems for the home defence, and it didnt take long for Dale to
get in front. Murray managed to pounce after somewhat of a scramble managed to
lift the ball over the advancing keeper with a cheeky finish from around six
yards out in front of the large Dale following, for an early but deserved
lead.

Dale continued to press, but actual chances were hard to come by,
Rundle fired a fantastic ball across the face of goal just past a despairing
Murray, and Higgy drove wide, but other than that there was not much to shout
about despite Dale dominating the possession. Thankfully though for Dale, the
home side were absolutely atrocious when in possession of the ball, the Predator
wannabe who roamed midfield for Wrexham being one of the worst players to be
seen in a many a season in League Two. Wrexham did probably have the best
chances of the half to score, but somehow they managed to miss more or less two
open goals, think one even went out for a throw-in.

Dale did have one
more chance towards the end of the half, as we seemingly tried to walk the ball
into the net, with Alfie finally having his chance blocked, and you just had
that little bit of doubt that we might get punished for not turning possession
into chances and thus into goals.

The second half saw Wrexham start the
brighter and for the first time Dale were on the backfoot, Russell was forced
into an excellent save low down at his near post, but that was more or less it
for the home side other than a few scrambles in the Dale box.

Just before
the hour mark Alfie was replaced by Wrexham old boy Lee McEvilly, who was on the
end of a mixed reception from the home fans. It didnt take Evil long to make his
mark though as he popped up in the box to fire home Dale's second from close
range following a ball across the face of the goal.

From then on Dale
were more or less in complete control of the game, dominating possession but
failing to really create any more chances of note. Wrexham did a fantastic
impression however of a pub side, failing to put any passing movements of note
together and more or less giving the Dale back four an easy afternoon. In fact
Nathan Stanton managed to slip give his man a ten yard head start and still
recover to take the ball off him.

And that was more or less that really
as far as action was concerned, Prendergast and Thompson both came on for bit
part roles replacing Higgy and Rundle. The game fizzled out and Dale picked up a
deserved win.

Photo: Action Images

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