Rochdale 1-1 Norwich (Norwich win 4-3 on pens)

Rochdale 1 (Murray 9)
Norwich 1 (Dublin 49)

Norwich win 4-3 on penalties a.e.t.

Dale team: Spencer, Ramsden, Branston, McArdle, Kennedy, Muirhead, Jones, Doolan, Rundle (Prendergast), Murray (le Fondre), Dagnall

Coming into this match, I can't say my hopes were high of a repeat of the previous round's match, a match that ended 2-2 and Dale won on penalties. But, what I can say, regardless of the final result, is that Dale more than matched a Championship side for the second time this year, and were eventually unlucky to lose.

We started out with the tried and tested 4-4-2, with Rundle and Muirhead making comebacks in place of Prendergast and the suspended David Perkins. I was glad to see Muirhead, inexplicably dropped for the Hereford match, make his return to the right flank. He and Dagnall turned out be the catalysts tonight for what was a great spectacle of football, for the neutral as well as any Daley.

As the match started, you could see who both Dale and Norwich's danger-men were: Muirhead and Dagnall for Rochdale, Dublin and Huckerby for Norwich. Indeed pretty much all of Dale's chances in the first half came via defence splitting passes as we looked to exploit Norwich's left-back (Murray) and central defenders (mainly Doherty), who didn't look to comfortable up against our pace. Similarly, most of Norwich's plays were sent via Dublin's head - which is not to say they were a long-ball team, but they knew when to hoof and when to play it short. Huckerby also tried to lure Ramsden as far out as possible to the wing, to give Dublin and Martin more space, but I think he resisted this tactic quite well.

The first meaningful effort came after about five minutes, Daggers shooting over from not far out. Murray also missed a looping header not long after. After that header, the resulting goal kick was played short to the Norwich defence who cocked up mightily allowing Glenn Murray to steal in and dink it over keeper Marshall and into the WMG goal. That was when memories of the Stoke game returned, and I started to believe that we could do something today.

We were just better than we were against both Hereford and Chester in the league - our midfield passed and moved like they didn't on Saturday, our wingers (notably Muirhead) took apart the Norwich defence and Chris Dagnall, my man of the match, had an absolute belter. Norwich weren't a bad side by no means however, and they did have a fair share of chances. Famously named Chris Martin should have really done better at one point when he hesitated in the box allowing a defensive tackle to clear the lines, also Gary Doherty and Dion Dublin had headers that were either saved or missed. Credit to Norwich, although their fans would argue otherwise, I don't think they played badly today, and more importantly, they were better than Stoke.

Half-time came with only a few other chances, none clear-cut, and I was very happy with our first half display. We were committed, tight at the back, and could definitely not be accused of lack of skill. Norwich also tried to play decent football, but I felt they relied a little too much on Dublin and Huckerby to create everything. Norwich manager Peter Grant realised something wasn't right at half-time, and took Ian Murray off - who had been skinned by Muirhead multiple times - and replaced him with Luke Chadwick, the guy with the spotty face that used to play for United. He also changed the formation around a bit, and it had the desired affect as Norwich started the second half brightly. They were pinning Dale back into their own half, every time we cleared the ball it seemed to fall to a Norwich player.

Part-way through Norwich's period of ascendency, Darren Huckerby was fouled (arguably) by Simon Ramsden, and the resulting free-kick was hit low into the area for Dion Dublin to apply a finish you could definitely class as "deft". 1-1 after 50, and how would Dale react to this equaliser?

For another 15 minutes or so, chances were hard to come by for the Dale, Norwich being the most likely scorers at this point. But, just as he did against Stoke, Rory Prendergast came on for Adam Rundle and once again changed the game (although not as dramatically as before). I don't know how he does it - he's not particularly fast, and doesn't regularly beat players like Rundle, but Rory has this knack of winning corners and somehow getting crosses in when it doesn't look like he can. Anyway, after Prendergast's introduction we started to play much better and have a lot more decent opportunities.

The end of the ninety minutes came and I had the same feeling as I did against Stoke - whatever the result, we can be more than happy with the performance. The fact that we also dominated extra time improved by positivity greatly. It was at this point in which referee Colin Webster made his only error of the match - not to book Gary Doherty for second time. The first booking, earlier on in the second half, was a cynical professional foul on Rory Prendergast, but it wasn't a goal-scoring opportunity, so was rightly only a yellow card. The second incident happened in the first bit of extra time, exactly the same way - Doherty tried to drag down Chris Dagnall but the Dale striker stayed up, passed to Murray who was six yards out and fired weakly into Marshall. At this point, the referee should have booked Doherty for his second professional foul, regardless of whether the advantage was given or not. That said, Murray should really have scored that. Doherty was then booed massively for the rest of the game.

After we switched ends during the half-time-in-extra-time, Dale had the two best opportunities to scored in the entire match. The first was when Ben Muirhead booted the ball over the bar from six yards after a Prendergast cross, the second was when Dagnall missed a routine effort from a similar distance. When these didn't go in, coupled with Murray's miss earlier, you got the feeling it may not be our day.

And so, to penalties:
Dale 1-0 Norwich: GOAL Tom Kennedy, top left hand corner, great pen.
Dale 1-1 Norwich: GOAL Chris Brown sent Spencer the wrong way.
Dale 2-1 Norwich: GOAL Adam le Fondre also made the keeper guess incorrectly.
Dale 2-2 Norwich: GOAL Simon Lappin, bottom right-hand corner.
Dale 2-2 Norwich: MISS Rory Prendergast's effort was saved by Marshall, good stop down to the left hand corner.
Dale 2-3 Norwich: GOAL Chris Martin to the bottom right.
Dale 3-3 Norwich: GOAL Chris Dagnall, almost hit the angle between cross-bar and post, class penalty.
Dale 3-4 Norwich: GOAL Darren Huckerby, another one to the right.
Dale 3-4 Norwich: MISS Gary Jones tried to surprise Marshall by booting down the middle, but made to look a fool when Marshall didn't move.

And so, we'd lost, our dreams of possible match-ups against Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool and Man Utd dashed upon the rocks of the penalty shoot-out. But, our confidence restored, surely we can give some kind of performance against Franchise FC? After all, what's a performance like this worth if you can't show it in the league?

Ooh, and a big mention tonight to Norwich's Dion Dublin - ever the consummate professional and truly earned his goal and a round of applause from both sets of fans. That man is a legend.

Reasons to be cheerful?:
- Once again matched a Championship side over 120 minutes.
- Muirhead on top form.
- Dagnall looking a real threat, committed as ever.

...and reasons not to be?:
- We didn't get through, although did deserve to.
- We missed a few sitters.
- Jonah and Doolan looked tired at the end, and we only had one other option in midfield (Crooks).

Player-by-player round-up:
- Spencer: Impressive display, no faults again.
- Ramsden: Better, can be forgiven for not exactly managing Huckerby. We'll see more accurately against Franchise.
- Branston: The man has only two passes - the long hoof and the long header. Solid enough.
- McArdle: An improvement.
- Kennedy: Another good performance from the ex-bury man. Almost scored a belter late on.
- Muirhead: Second only to Daggers in terms of performance and willingness to run. Must start on Sat.
- Jones: Good first half, tired in the second.
- Doolan: See Jones.
- Murray: Looks a bit unfit, but did some nice touched all the same.
- Dagnall: Man of the match, if the lad can dribble past Champ defenders he can dribble past League Two ones.

Hereford Utd 1-1 Rochdale

Hereford United 1 (Robinson 27)
Rochdale 1 (Dagnall (pen) 21)

Dale team: Spencer, Ramsden, Branston, McArdle, Kennedy, Jones (Crooks), Doolan, Perkins, Prendergast (le Fondre), Dagnall (Rundle), Murray

Apologies for the lateness of this match report - I think someone *must* have spiked my drink (coff coff). As you'll probably know by now, the match was no classic anyway. In fact I don't even know why I am bothering to do a match report for that shower of shite. In all honesty I could sum up the match perfectly in one word: dogshit. Wait, is that two words?. Nevertheless I will endeavour to make this report as exciting as possible, but they do say that you can't polish a turd so don't be expecting something worth reading.

Dale started with an odd formation. I assumed Ben Muirhead must have been injured in the pre-match warm-up because Gary Jones started on the right of the four man midfield. The rest of the team lined up in their usual positions, with Guy Branston making his Dale debut in the centre of the defence. Prendergast replaced Rundle, who was unlucky to be dropped.

The match started in lethargic fashion under the blazing Herefordshire sun, and continued that way throughout. It must have been about 25 degrees, an unhelpful time for the English summer to make an appearance and both sides were wilting in the heat. Dale lacked any real vigour today, not helped by the whistle-happy referee, although to be fair he made awful decisions for both sides today. The first memorably bad decision came when Chris Dagnall was bundled over in the box, innocuously enough it seemed, but regardless the ref pointed to the spot and Daggers hit the penalty low into the left hand side. This was to be our only real effort on target, our attacking threat over after twenty minutes.

Hereford were causing us a fair few problems, especially with the pace of ex-Derby man Lionel Ainsworth down the flank. Trevor Benjamin also did his fair share of jumping, heading and tumbling like only a big black man can. The referee seemed happy enough to blow his whistle after aerial challenge, one such free-kick resulted in Hereford's goal. Lionel "Blair" Ainsworth took a free-kick nowhere near where the foul occurred and hoofed it up for Theo Robinson to stroll past Guy Branston, run towards James Spencer and adeptly finish it in front of the almost empty home section of the curved-shed-terrace-thingy. 1-1, our lead has lasted little over five minutes. Good goal though it was, I was unhappy that the quick free kick was allowed to have been taken in the first place - a rare lack of pedantry from the otherwise picky Mr Horwood, the man in black for the day.

After this Dale struggled to get any kind of moves going, our brightest "threat" seemed to be coming from Doolan's unusually misplaced chips to our strikers. The one bit of good play we had, when Murray played in Dagnall to leave a one-on-one was offside, and that was pretty much it in terms of attacking from us. Jonah was hopeless today, once again, although I did wonder what Keith Hill was playing at by starting with him at right wing ahead of Ben Muirhead. The dreaded "undroppable" word was doing the rounds amongst the Dale support - I don't know whether to believe it or not. Could Keith Hill really have thought that Jonah would be a better option on the right flank compared to Muirhead? They're chalk and cheese, one a pacey, skilful attacker who did wonders in our amazing run last year; the other a shadow of his former self, reduced to being praised merely for his "love for the club" and the fact that he can run around all day like a dickhead despite not getting anywhere near the ball. Keith Hill you need to take a good long look at the starting lineup before the MK Franchise match, or we'll be battered.

The rest of the first half Hereford looked increasingly like being the only likely winners of this terrible match of football. Trevor Benjamin missed a decent opportunity in the box when his first touch luckily bounced into Spencer's arms, also Lionel Ainsworth fired over the bar from very close in when he should have done better. We never looked like getting into it, and it was our midfield who were the problem today. Perkins looked a bit too hot and never did his usual crowd-pleasing tackles; Doolan played too many blind balls and looks like he needs some match practice; Prendergast was unsupported and had to resort to backpasses to Ramsden; and Jonah was usual Jonah. It's easy to say that Jones was the reason we didn't do well today, but the others must come under criticism too for an inadequate display which left the 250 Dale fans with nothing to cheer about in either half. Must do better.

Second half was same as the first, but with even less opportunities for Dale. Guy Branston, who had a first-half shocker, improved - but he still looks dodgy, slow and definitely in the James Sharp mould. Ramsden's performance again was poor, and he will be taken apart by any decent left winger this year.

Hereford were pressing and fired many a ball into and around James Spencer, who I thought played well. Some fans were bemoaning him for his unwillingness to catch, but his punches were all strong and cleared the lines, so I don't know why some were having a go at him. Spencer pretty much kept us in it, making some class saves and also not messing up (important that).

Around the 65 minute mark, David Perkins picked up his first booking. It was harsh I feel, there was a free kick and he ran forward thinking it had been taken when the Hereford player merely was resting his foot on the ball. Was that really worth a booking? Well, no is the answer.

After this, Hill tried in vain to change things around, with Lee Crooks coming on for Jonah and Alfie replacing Rory Prendergast. It didn't help much, and Hereford continued to apply pressure with crosses and corners. Still no sign of Ben Muirhead - I can only assume something us Dale fans could not have seen...

And so we stole a point from Herefordshire today - we didn't deserve anything. I will now finish off this match report with a new feature which is designed to sum up the match along with the player-by-player round-up - for those lazy articles who can't be bothered to read prose!

Reasons to be cheerful?:
- We got a point.
- Spencer looks to be gaining confidence and was bright enough today not to try and catch every high ball.
- We got a point.

...and reasons not to be?:
- Never looked like scoring today, even with our first choice central midfield.
- Keith Hill again made some errors of judgement in the lineup.
- We haven't scored from open play yet this season.

Player-by-player Round-up:
- Spencer: Good performance, gained us that point we never deserved.
- Ramsden: Again poor. Maybe Gary Brown should be given a chance?
- Branston: Bad first half, but improved second half. Loves nothing better than an old-fashioned HOOF.
- McArdle: Short of confidence, should get better with age and when Stanton comes back.
- Kennedy: Good going forward, skinned a few times defence-wise.
- Jones: Not a right-sided player. Not skilful enough.
- Doolan: Not creative today.
- Perkins: Unfortunate to be red-carded. Not a game to remember otherwise.
- Prendergast: Did nothing to suggest Rundle should have been on the bench.
- Dagnall: Ran around, but left to feed on scraps. Won and scored the penalty.
- Murray: Lethargic, unable to win many headers due to persistent referee incompetence.

- Crooks: Not enough time.
- le Fondre: See Crooks.
- Rundle: Came on for two minutes.

Oh, and how bad was the "Bulls Eye" Hereford match programme? £2.50 for that flimsy bit of tat?

Rochdale 1-2 Chester City

Rochdale 1 (Ramsden 21)
Chester City 2 (Grant 58, Ellison 90)

Dale team: Spencer, Ramsden, McArdle, Crooks, Kennedy, Muirhead (Thompson), Jones, Perkins, Rundle (Prendergast), le Fondre, Murray (Dagnall)

In stark contrast to Tuesday night's match, I wandered home from Spotland today with my head down, arms folded and with a constant look of "shut up, you" on my face. This match was miles more disappointing than the Peterborough match, not because we played particularly badly, just because we somehow ended up losing against a poor Chester side.

Yeah okay, if that disallowed goal wasn't disallowed we would have won, but the fact is that today we just didn't close out the game, a game in which we controlled our Welsh friends for large periods of the game.

I was sat right in front of some Chester fans too, which didn't exactly help my mood. Why they were in the Main Stand god only knows!

We started off 4-4-2 with only two changes from the side that played Stoke, with Lee Crooks coming in for the injured D'Laryea and Dagnall being dropped for le Fondre. In the first ten minutes or so we looked quite good, Rundle and Muirhead looked to have the beating of their two full-backs and Chester were causing us no problems at the back (Crooks especially did well today, excepting one play which led to a goal). We were looking to get crosses in the box, from corners and open play alike, as they looked quite unsure when balls were pumped into the box. I thought we were going to win comfortably today. How wrong I was.

It did look that way though, at least for the first half. The opener came on 21 minutes, from a corner. Their keeper Danby flapped at the ball, Jones shot was blocked before Simon Ramsden bundled it home from about a yard. Yay etc. 20 minutes gone, Chester looking bad, Dale looking comfortable - what more could you ask? We were dominating the match, without looking particularly threatening, but we were good value for our lead come half-time.

Their closest effort from the first period came from Simon Yeo, the ex-Lincoln striker swivelled and shot, but his effort was weak and bobbled into Spencer's grateful arms. That was it really for them. At the other end, McArdle and Murray were creating problems on set-pieces, but I cannot pin-point any specific chances, which was part of our problem today. All I can say is that we played better than Chester in the first half, but not amazingly. Kind of a tepid performance all-round.

Half-time reflections were that Kevin Ellison, the experienced bald winger, was their most dangerous player. I'd heard of a few of Chester players before; Yeo, Butler, Lowndes, but it was Ellison who stood out as their most "prestige" player. I use the word "prestige" in the most loose of senses, you understand. On our own side, I thought Crooks and McArdle were solid and neither missed a header I can recall. Ramsden looked shaky and twice sliced the ball into the air on defensive clearances. Our weakest player on the day was facing their best - this is something which would later punish us.

Second half started not unlike the first, Murray had our best effort with a long-ranger well saved by Danby. But as time wore on our one goal lead was looking more and more tenuous and the tension grew and grew in the home sections of Spotland. Chester's second half tactics went as follows:
- Give the ball to Ellison
- Get men in the box
- ???
- Profit!
All credit to Chester City though, it bloody well worked! Ramsden was slow and couldn't get to grips with the baldy man in the second half, and it told on 58 minutes when the winger was allowed to get to the byline before sliding one into the box - Tony Grant got on the end of it and Chester had their first goal of the campaign. Damn.

Keith Hill then decided to make some interesting (read bad) substitutions. Rundle, who had just skinned their right-back excellently, was swapped for Prendergast, and for some reason Muirhead was taken off for Joe Thompson. A straight swap both times. Granted Prendergast won the match for us against Stoke, but their seemed no reason to put him on as Rundle was doing just fine. I'd rather Hill do something about Gary Jones, who stuck out as our joint-worst player today alongside Ramsden. Doolan left on the bench for this guy? I shudder.

These tactical masterstrokes didn't exactly work out as planned. Our right flank with Thompson on made even more of a fool of Ramsden who was dangerously exposed, and Prendergast did nothing of note (although he was by no means awful). But the midfield is where we lost it in the second half. Perkins tried in vain to make up for Jones' woeful passing, but although the man is good, he is no Superman - he can't be in two places at once.

The rest of the match was played out like a proper League Two affair - ie shite long-ball stuff, so uncharacteristic of Hilly and Flickers. Daggers came on for Murray, who probably isn't fully fit yet, and did well in the 88th minute to cross for Alfie to slot home. 2-1 Dale. Woohoo! Let's all 'ave a disco!...

But wait, why are Chester playing on? Tom Hark is playing, ref, it has to be a goal!? Unfortunately not. I don't know how, I don't know why, but the linesman had judged Alfie offside. I can't say I was in a perfect position to see, but there seemed no reason to even think the goal offside. I thought Daggers had played the ball square and Alfie ran onto it... that would make it onside on two counts!

It's all on a knife-edge this sport business. Minutes later, Kevin Ellison, playing the last five minutes of the game as striker, ran onto a long-pass and left Crooks trailing in his wake. Needless to say he slotted home and some Chester people got very excited. Dale fans got distinctly pissed off, so they all pissed off home.

Today was a match we could have won, but didn't. If anything, we showed our naivety whilst playing with a lead. Usually under Hill we would have scored three more, but we didn't. And we didn't know how to protect our lead, and instead let an average Chester exploit our one weakness. Maybe we have to learn that sometimes you just cannot afford to swap two wingers for two other wingers despite them being okay in the first place? Mr Hill, that was your first major error as a manager. Now lets regroup and show some grit against Hereford.

Or maybe we should just drop Jonah?

Player by player roundup:
- Spencer: Nothing to do for large periods of the match. Came for crosses well.
- Ramsden: Ran ragged by their only good player. Has looked shaky for three matches running.
- McArdle: Won almost everything in the air, good effort.
- Crooks: See McArdle.
- Kennedy: Decent. His pace will make up for the large majority of errors he'll make - he is rapid.
- Muirhead: Okay, nothing special.
- Jones: Poor, needs to be dropped.
- Perkins: Ran around like a headless chicken as usual, but couldn't make up for the woeful Jones.
- Rundle: Beat his man once or twice, some good crosses.
- Murray: Better in the first half than the second, looked tired as the match wore on.
- le Fondre: Did nothing to suggest he is better than Dagnall, although by no means a bad performance.

- Prendergast: Alright, same as Rundle really.
- Thompson: Will not make it in the League, shouldn't be brought on in a match like this.
- Dagnall: Set-up our disallowed goal, decent cameo.

Dale fans get shirty over home kit

Regardless of our absolute lack of decent "history", Dale fans have become rather like our bury neighbours when the Official RAFC site posted this article about next year's home kit: Decision Made on Next Season's Kit.

I kind of see their point too. The plan is to abandon the all-blue kit which we've had intermittently since 1968 and instead of adopting the expected black and white, we are to switch to an all-new black and blue design. Radical indeed. The reason for this is that most poor gatherer of opinions: the internet poll. These are the same internet polls that made Adolf Hitler one of the top ten Germans, made an unknown Irishman Inter's player of the year and almost made David Walliams get "Sports Personality of the Year". Internet polls are untrustworthy.

I actually like the idea of a new black and blue kit. It fuses both of our previous kits together to form a new one, all part of the Rochdale Revolution etc. The black and white was only meant for one season, this was vital to make it the "Centenary Kit", so the only options were blue (a kit which has brought us no success, and is used by tons of lower league team) or something new, that's where the Inter-inspired black and blue comes in.

The picture shown left is a mock-up I did of how the kit could appear. Of course, Theo Walcott would never join Dale (he iz a massif bury fan), so try and imagine Joe Thompson's head there instead of Walcott's. I personally like this kit. It's rarely used in football (black on blue is "colour on colour" in heraldic terms, which goes against the rules) - which is why it would be perfect for the new kit, something daring and unique.

But, if the majority of Dale fans want something other than this kit, I think we should listen to them. If the choice was between "blue" and "black and blue" I think blue would win every time. We have to accept this year's kit is this year's kit only, so I think most fans would plump for our old Dale blue.

I will just be happy if we can have a kit which lasts longer than a single season this time, no matter what the colours.

Oh, and Viva la Revolución!

Rochdale 2-2 Stoke (Dale win 4-2 on pens)

Rochdale 2 (Perkins 83, Prendergast 101)
Stoke City 2 (Shawcross 4, Cresswell 120)

Dale win 4-2- on pens a.e.t.

Dale team: Spencer, Ramsden, McArdle, D'Laryea, Kennedy, Muirhead, Perkins, Jones, Rundle (Prendergast), Murray, Dagnall (le Fondre)

Don't worry folks, the revolution is back on! And in superb fashion. I left Spotland tonight more satisfied than I have been for quite a while - probably since the 5-0 win over MK Dons - satisfied with both the result and the performance. Peterborough last week is now history. All is forgotten! All is forgiven!

Dale started with pretty much the same team as Saturday, with Nathan D'Laryea replacing Crooks as the only change in Hilly's side. The match started not very well for us - Stoke City's Liam Lawrence crossed the ball from the right and Ryan Shawcross got in front of Rory McArdle to head the Championship side one-up after 3 minutes. Oh well, only to be expected, they are after all two leagues above ourselves. I was in all honesty hoping for anything other than a rout.

What occurred over the next 120 minutes was anything but a rout. Stoke City were a disgrace to Championship football, an unintelligent, long-ball team consisting of bullies and skinheads. And Jon Parkin. Another reason why today's victory was oh so sweet.

Stoke were basically good at set-pieces, and that was it. Every City corner was met by a Stoke head - we were lucky to be only one down by the break, but not particularly because they dominated the match. It was a case of us having possession, but not having the nous maybe to break them down when it mattered. Our best attacks in the first half came mostly at the end, once we'd recovered from the shock of going one-nil down - Muirhead and Rundle were whipping in some dangerous balls, although they never really found a head. We really got the wingers going tonight, especially Prendergast, but we'll get onto him later.

At the other end, Jon Parkin had Stoke's best effort, swivelling inside the penalty box only to see his effort saved by Spencer. Why the long face Parkin? Oh sorry, you always look like that! He got subbed later on to cries of "You're going off cos you're fat", but I thought he was City's most threatening player, miles better than the disinterested Mamady Sidibe

The end of the first half came and I felt genuinely please about how we'd played in the first half. Yes we were one-down, and deservedly so, but we didn't roll over and die and we looked determined to play decent football unlike our so-called Championship opposition. Jones had a cracking first half, I was glad to see he had picked himself up after some people (me included) slagged him off after the Posh match. Kennedy was also looking good, more as an attacking threat than a defender - many a time he picked up Ben Muirhead running down the right flank with a cross-field pass. So overall, a decent first half.

The next forty-five minutes of this Carling Cup draw were exhilarating if you were a Dale fan. We more than matched Stoke, who had few opportunities in the second half. I am very angry at the BBC website which suggests that "[Stoke] looked good for the win". This is a complete lie. We had more possession, more shots and just more about us. Adam Rundle had probably our best opportunity, Murray spotted Rundle homing in on the back post and picked him out with pinpoint accuracy, but Rundle belted the ball against the post.

After 64 minutes, Daggers was replaced by Adam le Fondre, who chased and chased for the time he was on. He came closest with a 20 yard free kick which just missed the right-hand post. On 75 minutes, Rundle, who was playing well, was replaced by Prendergast, more due to tiredness than anything else. Little did we know that our match-winner had just come onto to the field.

Stoke in the second half were reduced to long shots and occasional counter attacks. We were the aggressors, and our equaliser seemed inevitable. I had just commented that David Perkins had never scored for us when he played a ball into Glenn Murray, who cleverly played the ball between his feet into Perks's path, who then belted it into the roof of the net from just inside the area. The perfect one-two goal, and what a way to get your first ever goal for the Dale.

After that, if there was going to be a winner, it looked like it would be us. During both the end of the ninety minutes and all through the extra time, Prendergast was immense. Chasing lost balls and finding them, taking the piss out of Stoke defender Stephen Wright (ex-Liverpool) and generally causing our opponents all kinds of trouble. After 100 minutes, Rory got what he deserved when Adam le Fondre crossed from the right into his path, and he volleyed past Russell Hoult into the WMG goal. Rory Prendergast you are a legend.

The second half of injury time was tense. More than tense, headache-inducingly tense. I was impressed that we didn't plop ourselves firmly in our own half, and in fact we looked for a third. No time-wasting corner routines with Hilly, our corners were swung into the Stoke City area and in turn we forced them back. The fourth official had just put his board up for three minutes injury time when it happened - Richard Cresswell bundled the ball home after some tired-looking defence from Dale. Oh dear oh dear oh dear. I knew they shouldn't have done that "Easy" chant. Stoke fans entertained themselves with "Two-one and you f*cked it up", which wasn't really accurate as we still won in the end. Obviously not very bright your average Stoke fan.

Penalties it was then, I'll give you a run down of the runners and riders:
Dale 1-0 Stoke: GOAL Tom Kennedy, slotted it down to the left side, sent Hoult the wrong way.
Dale 1-0 Stoke: SAVED Richard Cresswell, saved by Spencer who guessed correctly.
Dale 1-0 Stoke: SAVED Adam le Fondre, a repeat of Cresswell's penalty, Hoult saved well.
Dale 1-1 Stoke: GOAL Anthony Pulis, Spencer guessed the right way, but couldn't reach Pulis's shot up high.
Dale 2-1 Stoke: GOAL Rory Prendergast, sent Hoult to the right when the shot was to the left.
Dale 2-2 Stoke: GOAL Liam Lawrence, Spencer dived left, Lawrence went right.
Dale 3-2 Stoke: GOAL Ben Muirhead, slotted it down to the left past Hoult.
Dale 3-2 Stoke: MISSED Carl Dickinson, stupidly hoofed it into the WMG.
Dale 4-2 Stoke: GOAL Gary Jones, down to the left again.

In fact, all our penalties went low and to the left. You'd have thought Russell Hoult would have figured out the pattern!

After Jonah scored, relief and satisfaction set in. Relief that we didn't let that stupid last minute goal ruin a good performance, and satisfaction that we'd beaten a Championship side by playing better football than them.

Player-by-player roundup:
- Spencer: Cannot be faulted today, saved well from Parkin and also saved a pen.
- Ramsden: Still not convincing, although playing against a decent winger.
- McArdle: A return to "the Wall" nickname for Rory, no more Mr McAwful. Solid.
- D'Laryea: Very impressed again with Nathan, didn't let much past him.
- Kennedy: Man of the match candidate, passing excellent, wing-play very good.
- Muirhead: A Championship defence were scared of his pace! Bodes well for this season.
- Perkins: Never really got into it until the second half. Scored a really good goal.
- Jones: Another MOM candidate. Ran around like an idiot, in the best possible sense.
- Rundle: Didn't beat their man, but made up for it with some decent crosses.
- Murray: Okay by Murray's standards, but showed why we missed him on Saturday.
- Dagnall: Okay, didn't get many opportunities.

- Prendergast: Our match winner. I wouldn't like to drop him after that performance, but will Keith Hill?
- le Fondre: Caused some trouble in a tired defence. Assisted our second goal.

Peterborough 3-0 Rochdale

Peterborough Utd 3 (Low 10, McLean 44, Crow 90)
Rochdale 0

Dale team: Spencer, Ramsden, Crooks, McArdle, Kennedy, Muirhead (D'Laryea), Jones, Perkins, Rundle (Murray), le Fondre, Dagnall

Revolution my arse! Our promotion trail got onto a distinctly average start today as we were battered by a Peterborough side with an abundance of both pace and skill.

The sun was shining, the lager was cold and the travelling Daleys all looked super proud in their new black and white striped shirts. A quick look at the Sunderland score (0-0 after 80 mins) in the nearest pub and we were all off, expired student cards in hand and two quid ready to buy a fanzine outside the ground (which was excellent by the way). Sweet optimism filled the air; to quote the front of a mini fixtures list produced a few seasons back - "This time?".

No, to put it bluntly, not today. We were awful, especially in the first half, but mainly throughout the whole match. Our strikers? Bullied out of the game. Our midfield? Non-existant. Our defence? Ripped apart. Today showed us how much we rely on Stanton, Doolan and Murray to add that "solid core" right through the centre of the lineup.

The first chance of the match was when Peterborough's Aaron McLean raced past McArdle only to slide his shot inches wide of Spencer's far post. The Dale fans all shouted "Waaaaay", more in relief than in an attempt to goad McLean. For the first 10 minutes the match seemed increasingly in Peterborough's favour, the breakthrough coming via McLean who capitalised on some dodgy defence from Ramsden and McArdle, and played in Josh Low who tidily hit it home past a helpless Spencer. Peterborough's fans were then heard for the first time in the match.

The problem today with Dale was mostly the opposition - this may seem obvious - but it was us who didn't adapt to Posh as they adapted to us. Peterborough stifled our wingers, forcing us into the distinctly uncreative middle. They also defended quite deeply, meaning we couldn't ping the ball over their defence for the strikers to run on to. The result was that our usual style of play was disrupted: our wingers forced out of it, we were reduced to playing long balls to Alfie and Daggers, which was like taking toffees off a baby for their centre backs. Posh, in contrast, were successful against us because they simply gave it to Boyd and McLean up front who ran rings round Crooks and McArdle all afternoon. We couldn't get hold of them.

Peterborough's second came from the superb McLean, although he should never have been allowed to score really. Craig Morgan belted a deep cross from the right which bounced agonisingly between goalkeeper Spencer and the central defensive pair allowing Aaron McLean to tap it limply over the line. In my view it was clear Spencer should have come for the ball. Perhaps Sam Russell, our newly-signed keeper, is feeling a little more chirpy tonight?

Peep-peep, not a single chance for Dale as the half-time whistle blew. I consoled myself by laughing at memories of Michael Simpkins. Indeed the Shyte of our Times.

The second half started off the same as the first, equally poorly for Dale. Keith Hill then made some changes after around 10 minutes, with us going 3-4-3: Muirhead and Rundle went off to be replaced by D'Laryea and Murray; Kennedy and Ramsden came forward as wingers, D'Laryea slotted in the three man defence with Crooks and McAwful. This did seem to help us, our long balls were finally reaching their target and their defence pushed forward to stop this - leaving gaps behind them for Daggers and Alfie to penetrate. Only it was too late. Peterborough did a good job of defending our new attacking formation, absorbing the pressure before offering the occasional counter attack. Darren Ferguson did a great job today, although it is rather easier when you've got a millionaire chairman who can always delve into his pockets.

After a flurry of around 15 minutes of Dale action, our cause seemed lost and the game returned to how it was in the first half. The best chance of the second half came to Posh, which is telling because they didn't particularly spend much time in our half. A 'Boro attacker lashed a volley onto the post (possibly crossbar), the ball fell to another Posh player, he hit the post with his shot, which rebounded onto the crossbar. That may or may not make sense that last sentence (I'm struggling to remember today's match, it hurts too much), but all I know is they hit the woodwork three times in 10 seconds.

Dale's best chances were limp shots from outside the area, Perkins and Dagnall both hitting it straight at keeper Jalal. We never really tested him enough; he proved last season to be a dodgy, dodgy keeper. Peterborough finished the game off in the ninetieth minute, sub Danny Crow tapped in from a low cross from the left. Our embarrassment complete, our disappointment showing on our faces, we trudged back to various methods of transport to travel the hundred miles back to glorious Rochdale. There there Daleys, our next league match is Chester - surely all will return to normal and they will be soundly beaten.

So were there any good points from today? Not many, but some still. Tom Kennedy showed he is decent coming forward, especially in the second half when converted to winger/wing-back. Perkins had a good game, as we've come to expect. The Dale support were fantastic throughout, and the EGP/92nd Club fanzine was a joy to read. However, the negatives far outweighed the positives - Gary Jones was shite today, couldn't pass forward, nor run, nor get near any of their players. James Spencer was at fault for the second goal, although he did make a good save in the second half. McArdle and Crooks were rubbish too, slow, disorganised and generally shaky.

But, I still have hope for the season. Peterborough are a very good team, and we were playing away with three key team members missing. I just hope we won't miss these three guys ever again!

Player by player roundup:
- Spencer: At fault for their second, some good saves, average distribution.
- Ramsden: Didn't like playing against McLean, made to look poor.
- McArdle: Not a good game for Rory, ran ragged by Boyd and McLean.
- Crooks: Slow.
- Kennedy: Okay in the first half, good in the second.
- Muirhead: Non-existant.
- Perkins: Usual performance from Dorothy. We need him.
- Jones: Definitely no longer an automatic choice in midfield, should be on the bench. Shite today.
- Rundle: See Muirhead.
- Dagnall: Not given anything to work with, understandably couldn't compete in the air.
- le Fondre: See Dagnall.

- D'Laryea: Did nothing wrong.
- Murray: Improved our team when he came on. Must start vs Chester.