Rochdale could only get a draw against Chester City with no real firepower up front without Grant Holt. A full match report and players ratings are now online.

It was a case of two points dropped for Rochdale as they could only take a point from The Deva Stadium as they drew 0-0 with Ian Rush's Chester City.  Dale were the only team in it for the majority of the game and Chester were even reduced to nine men in the second half when the home side lost Dale reject Paul Carden and second half substitute Cortez Belle were sent off.

Steve Parkin made changes to the squad that drew at home to Mansfield with Grant Holt serving the first of a two match suspension and Neil Edwards still recovering from a hernia operation so Tai Atieno started up front instead of Holt in what was his last game in his loan spell and YTS goalkeeper Danny Woodhall replaced Taff on the bench.  There were two other changes to the starting eleven with Gareth Griffiths replacing Daryl Burgess in the centre of defence and the shocking decision to drop Jamie Clarke to the bench with Scott Warner replacing him in midfield.  The rest of the team was the same with Gilks in net, Evans at right back, Goodall at left back and Heald partnering Griff at the back.  Gary Jones and Ernie Cooksey were alongside Scott Warner with Paul Tait and Leo Bertos alongside Atieno up front.  Woodhall, Gallimore, Burgess, Clarke and McGivern were the substitutes for the game.

Dale started the game very well and had a couple of good early chances through Tai Atieno.  He received the ball in the box and turned his defender well before shooting but his effort took a deflection off the keeper and went out for a corner.

Within a minute, Atieno could have had another goal when some excellent work from Leo Bertos gave him some space to put a cross in and it was a superb cross that Atieno got his head to but McKenzie was well positioned and saved without much trouble.

Atieno again had a chance to open the scoring for Rochdale when Tait received the ball from Evans and Tait laid off Atieno who shot but his effort was blocked by the busy Chester defence.

Leo Bertos went closest for Dale as he beat Drummond and then got a powerful shot in which was very well saved by McKenzie who pushed it away for a corner.

Gareth Griffiths was looking dangerous from set pieces and he headed over twice from corners.

The half time whistle blew and Dale had dominated the first half so we were left thinking that we should come away from the game with three important points.

Cortez Belle came on as a sub for Chester but he wouldn't be on the pitch too long in the end.

Paul Tait finally had an effort on goal with not long gone in the second half, he latched onto an Atieno pass but his shot was saved by McKenzie.

Leo Bertos was looking dangerous and he nearly broke the deadlock with just under half an hour to go when he swung in a freekick which everyone but the keeper missed.  It was a good save by McKenzie who saw the ball extremely late.

With twenty minutes to go, Chester reduced to ten men when former Dale player Paul Carden being given his marching orders for abusive language being directed at the linesman.

The nearest Dale came to grabbing a goal was through Gary Jones who shot from just inside the box but McKenzie again kept it out with a superb save to tip it round the post.

Cortez Belle had only been on the pitch about 40 minutes when he too was sent off after he caught Gareth Griffiths with an elbow to the face when they both challenged for a header.  The home fans didn't like it but there was a clear elbow used and Chester were down to nine men.

Dale didn't take advantage of the situation and I believe Parkin left it too late to go for the attack but Leo Bertos managed one last chance but he blasted over the bar.

The game finished 0-0 and although Dale remain 12th, we have a long trip to Yeovil Town on Tuesday night and we go into the game without Grant Holt and without him, we seem pretty clueless up front unfortunately.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 6 Very rarely troubled though his kicking was woeful and nearly put us in trouble on a couple of occasions

Wayne Evans 7 Not a bad game for Evans, decent distribution down the line and made some good interceptions

Alan Goodall 6 Not bad defensively but his crossing towards the end was awful

Greg Heald 6 Decent defensive display from Greg but was rarely troubled.

Gareth Griffiths 7 Good game for Griffiths, won everything in the air and made a couple of superb tackles

Scott Warner 7 No doubt Jangleberry disagrees but Warner had a good game yesterday, his passing was good and he battled hard

Gary Jones 5 Not the best game for Jones who looked to be in pain and certainly not at his best

Ernie Cooksey 6 Taken off with about 10 mins to go but until then he worked hard without much luck

LEO BERTOS 7 My M.O.M, looked dangerous throughout and was out only real source of creativity without Clarke

Paul Tait 5 Sorry but 3 goals in 28 games is not good enough, he doesn't even look like he's going to score.  Another poor game today

Tai Atieno 6 Showed bits of skill but he too hasn't done enough to make me think he is worth keeping. 

Subs:  

Jamie Clarke 6 Came on far too late and for the wrong person

Leighton McGivern 6 See Clarke

Photo: Action Images

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