Rochdale 2-1 Oldham

Rochdale 2 (le Fondre (pen), Dagnall)
Oldham 1 (Stam)

Dale team: Spencer, Ramsden, Crooks (D'Laryea), McArdle, Kennedy, Muirhead (Brown), Jones, Doolan, Prendergast (Warburton), le Fondre (Higginbotham), Dagnall

So the "Rose Bowl" (whatever that is) belongs to Rochdale this year by virtue of a goal each from the front pairing of Adam le Fondre and Chris Dagnall.

After greeting debutants James Spencer (or as the tannoy man said "Jake Spencer"), Tom Kennedy and Spotty the Dalmation, and reacquainting ourselves with Adam le Fondre and Ben Muirhead, the match eventually started in enthusiastic fashion. With only around a minute gone, le Fondre pounced on a mistake by the Oldham goalie only for him to delay his shot and eventually miss his opportunity to score. Only minutes later Dagnall had a decent chance after being played in by Alfie, but he fluffed his shot into the arms of the Latics keeper. Not a bad start by all means, with the strikers really looking to play the ball to each other. These two are unlikely to be the optimum pairing for next season, Murray will be there instead of le Fondre in all probability, but they both showed that they can play with each other despite their similarities. I thought that was the most pleasing thing to come out of tonight's match.

Things calmed down a little after the hectic start, although James Spencer had to save a close range shot from about 7 yards. I was seated right behind the shot, and I can say that it was a fantastic reaction save, almost Gilks-like(!). Oldham looked dangerous down the left, with some blonde winger having more than a fair share of possession. More often than not, however, his final ball was awful. The front two of Oldham didn't ask too many questions of Crooks and McArdle, their number 9 clearly was getting some final diving practice in before the season starts, and mostly the referee and defenders both were wise to his "simulation". The other striker of Oldham's was strong in the air, but lacked technique (I've since heard that that player was Michael Ricketts. Seriously).

After about 35 minutes, Oldham bizarrely chose to make some substitutions, including taking off their best player of the first half, Jean Paul Kalala (who clearly designed his look off Michael Essien). I think they made around three or four subs, before the rest of the half petered out into the break. Overall, a promising first half, but neither side really showed any killer instinct.

A welcome introduction to the half-time interval was the airing of "Rochdale Heroes", our centenary record. I think everyone should buy it, if only for the novelty of owning a Rochdale-themed record. It's just absurd, the thought that even the least-successful league team of all time can release a proper single. It's a damn fine listen as well, a kind of chilled-out Indie number with acoustic guitar and a xylophone. Hardly a terrace anthem, but listenable nonetheless.

But I digress, the real match started after the whistle blew for the second half. Like the first half, this one started off in Dale's favour, with new signing Adam le Fondre being tripped in the box. Clear penalty this one, and it was le Fondre to take the penalty, which is odd because our penalty specialist Gary Jones was on the field. Still, it did not matter as Alfie tucked it into the right hand side of the net to make it 1-0 to the Dale.

There was quite a good atmosphere at the match - Oldham had brought a fair few down and were insistent in their chants of "Small town in Heywood". Have they being reading bury's message board or something? Surely it should have been "Small town in Royton"!? I'm surprised these Latics fans have even heard of Heywood.

After this bright start to the second half, Oldham started to put pressure on the Dale with a string of corners, none of which were cleared with any authority. After four or five, something had to give, and Ricardo Carvalho, sorry, Stefan Stam, rose to head home past Spencer. I think around 50-55 minutes had gone by then.

After this goal, Oldham decided they wanted their old team back, and brought back on a few of the players who played the first half, including Essien-a-like Kalala. I thought this was against the rules? I saw Keith Hill say something to the ref, who mouthed "My mistake" to Hill, but did nothing about it. An odd way to go about things for certain. Still, it mattered little, as it was Dale who were going to win this one.

Dale made some substitutions of their own halfway through the second period. Muirhead, who made a fair few good runs, was replaced by Gary Brown; goalscorer Adam le Fondre was replaced by ex-Oldhamer Kallum Higginbotham; Rory Prendergast, who does not look as good as Adam Rundle, was substituted for Callum Warburton; and Lee Crooks, reliable as ever, was taken off in favour of Nathan D'Laryea. If you are wondering, D'Laryea is pronounced "D'LAH-REE-AY" with the emphasis on the LAH, according to Mr. Tannoy Man anyway.

There were a few efforts still left in this match - Oldham's best opportunity fell to the feet (literally) of their skinhead striker, who forgot to kick the ball into the net and instead let Spencer gather it up. A golden chance. Kallum Higginbotham and Chris Dagnall both looked lively at the other end, especially Kallum, who showed some intelligent play and a few good turns against his former club. It was Dagnall however who came up with a bit of magic to win the match. Picking up the ball just outside the area, Daggers beat two men with skill before shimmying past a third and slotting the ball into the corner past Oldham's fat keeper. A fantastic goal, one of the best we will see this season. A goal which full deserved victory in our centenary match.

There were a few goal-line scrambles down at Spencer's area after this, but nothing especial. The match was won, courtesy of Chris Dagnallinho.

Player by player roundup:
- Spencer; made two or three good saves and looks to have a decent kick on him.
- Ramsden; caught for pace once or twice, but generally solid.
- Crooks; what his legs can't do his brain makes up for. Will be useful backup next season.
- McArdle; little to do, never messed up.
- Kennedy; shaky start for Tom, didn't get forward with conviction and was out of position on occasion.
- Muirhead; good from Muirhead, beat their left back a few times.
- Jones; didn't do enough to get himself into the first eleven in my opinion, Perkins his it.
- Doolan; we will miss him in the first three matches of the season. Good array of passing.
- Prendergast; nothing spectacular, although did deliver two perfect crosses in the second half.
- le Fondre; linked up with Daggers well, but lacked sharpness. This will come with matches.
- Dagnall; excellent, scored a great goal.

- Brown; not enough possession to do anything.
- D'Laryea; very good (although brief) debut, cleared the ball when he needed to.
- Warburton; see Brown.
- Higginbotham; some good touches.