We had a couple of changes to our starting line up, with the enforced change of Higginbotham being replaced by Joey T, and what must have been a tough call to give Stanton a recall in place of Holness, something which might not have have happened had this game not been played at such a crucial time of the season.

First half, and the home side should have been offering a declaration after about 25 minutes. They absolutely tore us to shreds in that first half, carving out chance after chance after chance and it was something of a miracle that we ended the first half on equal terms.

Well that's a little unfair because whilst we had no midfield or forward line during that first half, we did have a defence which was doing whatever they could to ensure that the scores stayed on an equal footing.

The key for me was that we were unable to get out of defence. Our midfield seemed to treat the game like they had all the time in the world, but whenever we got the ball, we had the Shrews swarming all over us, and they were first to practically every second ball in the entire half. It was very easy during this time to see why they had the best home form in the division.

Backed by a vocal home support intent on appealing for every decision going and even some that they happily invented, the Shrews took the game to us, and the early battle between Nathan Stanton and Grant Holt was again worth the entrance fee on its own. Well it was if your entrance fee was purchased before 4:30pm last Thursday.

It was a battle royale, with Stanton having to be on the ball at all times. Holt, who you'd have thought was fat, hopeless and the worst player to have worn our shirt based on some comments coming from the 800 strong away following, was ever lively and intent on letting Stanton know that anything physical on Stanton's terms would see Holt drop to the floor whilst anything in reverse was fair game. This resulted in a couple of penalty shouts, but the referee was brave in seeing it for what it was.

The best shout for a penalty went almost unnoticed when whilst attempting to clear the ball, Rory McArdle slipped to the ground and handled the ball. Would have been harsh to award this spot kick, but a referee's mentality after turning down appeals would always see such a decision more likely.

We were under the cosh, but in Frank Fielding we had a keeper with clear intentions of dominating his box. We seemed to face about twenty odd corners in the first half and everyone of them had something about them. But whether it by Fielding's punching, the excellent defending from Stanton and McArdle or some downright shocking finishing from Shrewsbury ensured that the game remained goalless.

There must have been at the very least two occasions in the first half where a Shrews striker had a clear chance where the ball "simply" needed putting in but they missed the target. Each time this happened, the feeling started to change from "We could get battered here" to "this might just be our day".

There were enough signs that showed that if we could put the opposition under pressure then something could happen. Alfie forced a good save out of the Shrews keeper Daniels, who had to dive well to his left to keep us out, Buckley went on one of his marauding runs down the left before cutting in. His shot was saved whilst Le Fondre was better placed in the middle.

But they were brief exceptions in a half dominated by the Shrews, with Holt even trying to recreate that famous Pele shot when he tried lobbing Fielding from not far off the half way line. From my position in the ground, it was never going in, but Fielding wasn't so sure and he injured his ribs as he collided with the posts to just make sure.

As half time arrived, there was a growing feeling of satisfaction amongst the Dale fans. The storm had certainly been weathered, and despite the pattern of play, we were much the happier with the scoreline that Shrewsbury were, and if we could exploit those little chinks in the Shrews armour that had been evidenced in the first half, then we could ensure that Shrewsbury (a) remains one of our happiest hunting grounds.

Lee Thorpe was introduced in favour of Joey Thompson at half time as we looked to sneak something from the game, but within a minute or so, every single conversation and teamtalk about having weathered the storm was all in vain as the Shrews took the lead.

And it says it all about Grant Holt that as Dale fans we came away thinking about how well Stanton and McArdle had dealt with him, yet he still got himself on the scoresheet. Far too good for this division, and whilst it is a totally futile way of thinking, had Holt signed for us last Summer, we'd have been talking silverware for this season.

Holt's goal came within the first few seconds, and it was a little bit of magic as you'd expect. He left McArdle with a bit of trickery and had the whole goal to aim at before firing past Fielding. If only he'd had the same shooting boots on as his team mates had in the first half, as he made no mistake.

And then the reason why Shrewsbury are languishing outside the Play Offs became very evident. You can splash the cash for the best player in the division and a host of other players of a similar calibre, but paying League One wages does not bring League One football, and what we excel in, you cannot put a price on.

It would have been far too easy for us to cave in at this point, and after shipping in seven goals without reply in the previous two away games, it was probably the expected response, but it was if we blanked out the Holt goal, and got on with our business that was discussed at the break.

We didn't put Shrews under the sort of pressure that they inflicted on us in the first half, but we made the second half a much more even contest, and as it approached the final whistle, if there was to be a winning goal, then it was only going to be scored by a Dale player.

Rundle was introduced in favour of Buckley, and we seemed to adopt more of a 4-3-3 formation, with Thorpe leading the line, and it helped give us a foothold on the game. The Shrews players took the approach that they had done all that they needed to do to win the game, and did what they could to see the game out.

The Shrews keeper Luke Daniels was the chief protagonist. Moving with a speed of his namesake Helen, he urged the world's oldest ball boy to slow things down as the ball went out for a goal kick. Such was the delay, that it needed the intervention of a Dale photographer for the ball to get close to the correct position.

Chances were still at a premium for Dale however, and whilst we started to get into decent positions, going that extra mile proved to be too difficult. Coughlan at the back held the back line well, and looked to be one of the best defenders at this level.

And even when he couldn't stop the Dale attackers with his defending, he happily used his legs to bring down Dagnall and his elbow to counter Lee Thorpe. Bizarrely, he escaped the referee's book. Comments such as "biased against Dale" would be childish and untrue, but it was hard to fathom what it was about these challenges the referee felt weren't worthy of at least a booking, when some of our players received yellow cards for relatively trivial matters.

We might have had to wait until around fifteen minutes to go for our goal, but it was a goal worthy of any game, and the early entrants for the goal of the season might just be a little premature, as Chris Dagnall produced an absolute cracker.

From pretty much out of nothing, with no one expecting the shot, Dagnall produced a stunning strike from the edge of the box as he picked out his spot in the top corner prompting ecstacy from all but one of the away end. That child of mine didn't even bother to look up from playing on her Nintendo DS as the 800 away fans celebrated en masse.

With the home side facing the prospect of possibly becoming the most expensively assembled side to miss out on the Play Offs, we saw a change in their mentality. Daniels suddenly found that bit of urgency that was AWOL earlier, the twenty five year old ball boys remembered to do their jobs and Simpson changed his side's tactics to try and sneak a winner, but in reality they didn't come close to regaining the lead.

For it was Dale who came the closest to sneaking things. With last season's late late victory at the New Meadow still fresh in the memory, the complete smash and grab act was almost finished off in style as the impressive Thorpe had a looping header which beat Daniels but couldn't beat the woodwork. It agonisingly hit the cross bar.

That proved to be pretty much the last chance of the game and despite both teams still going for, it was to remain at 1-1 with Dale certainly much the happier with the point.

That point all but secured a Play Off position for Dale, as it would take an extraordinary set of results to go against us, but with three games to go, our sights are set on higher achievements and with an early kick off next Saturday, there's a great opportunity for us to heap the pressure on our promotion rivals.

It's never boring is it?