Alan Buckley returned to Sincil Bank for the first time since leaving there in April 2002 in the hope of bringing back 3 points but a drawwas all Dale could muster after being reduced to 10 men. Match report and ratings online

Rochdale took on Lincoln City at Sincil Bank hoping to bounce back up the league after a spell that had seen Dale get 1 point from 3 games and Alan Buckley was making a return to his previous club but Rochdale who were reduced to 10 men in the 2nd half managed to hang on to a draw.

Rochdale started the game with Lee McEvilly returning to the starting 11 and he went alongside Dale's newest recruit, Mickael Antoine-Curier up front.  That was the only change to the side that lost at home to Hull meaning that Gilks was in net despite rumours that Edwards was due to return, Evans and right back, Simpkins at left back with Griffiths and Burgess in the centre of defence.  Leo Bertos was on the right, Chris Shuker was on the left and McClare and Brannan were in the centre of midfield with Evil and Antoine-Curier up front.  The bench consisted of Edwards, Doughty, Grand, Strachan and Kev Townson.

Lincoln started very well and should have scored before with less than a minute gone as a long throw wasn't dealt with at all by Rochdale and Lincoln hit the post with a header and that was followed up by two very good saves in quick succession from Matt Gilks.

Dale should have taken the lead when Sean McClare broke free of the last defender but had no idea what to do with it and the chance was wasted.

Dale should have gone ahead on 25 minutes when Lee McEvilly went for goal following Chris Shuker's run but it was easy for the keeper to keep out and it was Chris Shuker himself who had Dale's next chance when he managed to cut inside well and his shot only just missed the far post.

Rochdale had commanded most of the half and had looked the more likely to score and that's what they did a few minutes before half time as some good work by Lee McEvilly gave the new guy Antoine-Curier the chance to volley home from 12 yards in what was an excellent finish to give the Frenchman a debut goal. 

Unfortunately Dale didn't go into the half time break in the lead as it originally looked like it would as Lincoln got an equaliser a couple of minutes after Dale's opener and a mixture of poor defending and goalkeeping resulted in the on loan Richardson side footing home past Gilks to make it 1-1 going into half time.

Leo Bertos and Mickael Antoine-Curier decided to swap boots for some reason and a few round me found it tough to tell them apart! 

Just 7 minutes into the 2nd half and Dale were reduced to 10 men and couldn't have any complaints whatsoever from my view.  Lee McEvilly made a dangerous 2 footed tackle and it kicked off and Evil didn't help himself by getting involved in the fracas and was rightfully sent off and will now look forward to a 3 match ban which is just what we needed.  This stupid red card was Dale's 4th red card of the season which as you will probably agree is not very good to say the least!!  Evil wasn't finished when he was shown the red card as he made his way to the opposition player to probably start up something else before being led away down the tunnel.

Dale decided to shut up shop and go for the point and Lincoln piled on the pressure and Dale even decided to bring Simon Grand on to go 5 at the back.  Lincoln almost took the lead with 15 minutes or so left as Matt Gilks was on hand to keep out Gain.

Despite being down to 10 men (AGAIN!!) Dale nearly took the lead late on when second half substitute Kevin Townson had a shot on goal that was saved by Marriott in the Lincoln net.

The game ended 1-1 which was a fair result seen as Dale were down to 10 men otherwise we could have gone on to win it possibly.  This result sees Dale drop to 15th in the league having taken 13 points from 10 games but that could all change on Tuesday night when we travel to Moss Rose to take on our biggest rivals in the world Macclesfield Town.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 7 Made some good saves but could have done better for their goal

Wayne Evans 8 Played well, some crucial interventions and had it not been for him we could have lost by quite a few

Michael Simpkins 5 Very poor, he doesn't seem to be winning the fans over!

Gareth Griffiths 7 Won lots in the air and played quite well

Daryl Burgess 7 See above

Leo Bertos 8 In and out of the game a little in the first but awesome in the second when he switched to the silver boots!  My man of the match

Chris Shuker 6 Couple of decent efforts but wasn't very impressive on the whole

Sean McClare 7 Not bad, should have scored when put free and panicked but his passing was decent

Ged Brannan 6 A couple of very poor passes and not a great display, not anywhere near as good as Betts unfortunately

Lee McEvilly 6 Stupid red card but apart from that looked quite dangerous

Mickael Antoine-Curier 7 Impressive debut!  Very well taken goal and looked dangerous

Subs:  

Kevin Townson 7 Could have grabbed the winner and looked decent when he came on, should have been starting for me

Simon Grand 7 Only on 15 minutes but won a few headers

Photo: Action Images

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