By Nathan Jackson
April 1 2007

Rochdale got revenge for the 7-1 defeat the Imps inflicted on them in October, by scoring 2 goals near the end of the game. City controlled the vast majority of the game, but misplaced passes, wasted opportunities and a complete lack of luck meant City failed to score for the first time in 5 months.

Louis Dodds almost embarrassed Marriott within a few minutes of the kick-off, his low shot almost catching the goalkeeper out as it appeared to be heading in. City’s first attempt of a slow game came in the 8^th minute when Hughes’ free kick was met by Forrester, but the striker’s header could only head straight into the arms of Gilks. Hughes then should have scored himself when a Peter Holmes cross found him in the box, unmarked Hughes had time on his side but could only volley the ball over from a matter of yards.

 

City were controlling the game but also failing to really create any chances. A clever ball saw Forrester seemingly have a free run on goal, but he collapsed whilst running past Ramsden and the defender was booked, it did appear though that Jamie dived in order to win a free kick rather than have a decent chance of scoring.

 

The lively Dodds was at the centre of a rare Rochdale foray into the City half, he met a cross with a header that sailed over Marriott and onto the top of the net. Jeff Hughes again should have given City a lead when he cleverly beat several players on the edge of the box before releasing a slow shot. It appeared to be heading in before got just millimetres wide of the post.

 

Marriott easily caught a Rochdale kick before Green was booked for a foul on Dodds. An amusing moment however saw the ref slip over, home defender Doolan picked up his card book and produced a red card for the referee, a moment that brought a small chuckle to all those in the ground. That was the final noteworthy incident of what was a pretty boring half of football.

 

The game was again controlled by City after the interval but the Imps were struggling to create chances, especially after the players kept giving the ball away on a regular basis. Holmes came close to getting his first Imps’ goal but his shot went just over the bar. Dagnall came on for Murray for the hosts. 22 minutes into the second half and City brought on Frecklington to replace Amoo.

 

With just 10 minutes to go, Mendes came on for Hughes before Dodds was replaced by Reet for the hosts. Mendes almost immediately scored as a clever Frecklington pass forward saw him unmarked in the area. He shot across goal and it appeared to be going in, but like Hughes’ effort earlier it went just wide of the post. N’Guessan came on for Holmes.

 

In the 88^th minute Nicky Eaden was caught out of position by Rundle, he ran down the left and sent a cross in, Chris Dagnall got to the ball before Green and shot Rochdale into a rather undeserved 1-0 lead with what was practically their first decent chance on goal since the Dodds effort in the first few minutes.

 

Eaden again was responsible for giving Rochdale a great opportunity to score. His corner went straight to the first defender and Rochdale broke. Dagnall hit the post with his effort before Rundle scored with one of the last touch’s of the game.