Mark Sweetmore brings you his match report from Saturday's Chester City match. Rochdale managed to come away from the game with a point despite going into the second half 2-0 down. Full report and ratings now online.

After the most entertaining game of the season to date took place at Chester only 5 weeks ago, fans of both Dale and Chester were expecting another great game of League 2 football.  This was backed up by a bumper crowd of 3618 at Spotland, as the teams met on a cold November afternoon.

Dale started the game with Matt Gilks in net, and Brown, McArdle, Gallimore and Tommy J just in front of him.  The midfield comprised of Cartwright, Jones, Clarke and Goodall with Holty and Sturrock providing the fire power upfront.

The atmosphere inside the ground before kick off was very good, with both fans chanting as the players warmed up.  It definitely promised to be another very good game, and ultimately it didn't disappoint!  Also, the referee remained fairly anonymous for the game, didn't do much wrong, and kept control.  An example to many referees out there, you can't complain when you rarely notice the man in black!

Despite a few early slips on the surface due to melting frost, both sides started playing well from an early stage, looking to create early chances.  Only an excellent challenge from Chester kingpin David Artell prevented Blair Sturrock from opening the scoring after good work from Holt.  Next up it was the turn of Gary "massive" Brown to make an excellent interception.  A dangerous cross from the right was heading for the foot of 2 Chester players until Gary cut it out, and nearly set up a quick counter attack with his clearance.  A great save by Matty Gilks once again kept the game deadlocked, before Chester scored goal number one on 19 minutes.  After a fizzing cross once again from the right, there was a mix up between Grant Holt (makeshift centre back apparently) and Gilks, allowing Bolland to just prod the ball home from all of 6 yards - cue chants of "Easy Easy" from the Chester Massive!

This goal sparked Dale into life, with Goodall pulling a fine save from Chester 'keeper MacKenzie , Holty heading just wide, the lively Sturrock being denied by MacKenzie again, and Cartwright shooting just over from a diving/twist/overhead kick type thing!  Just 5 minutes later Dale broke on the counter attack, with Jaszczun playing a delightful ball up to Sturrock, who pulled back to Gary Jones on the edge of the area, only for him to see his shot blocked.

Halftime came and went, with Pete on the pitch doing his thing, and Neil Edwards receiving a crystal-glass paperweight from Mr Kilpatrick.

The teams came out refreshed from the break, and it was Dale who seized the early initiative, with a fine cross by Goodall well cleared by Bolland.  Ten minutes later, a well worked freekick (similar to Argentina's last week) saw Holt head across goal, only for Sturrock to miss by a matter of inches!  Against the run of play, Chester scored again.  A decent attack, followed by a bullet into the bottom corner from Davies, saw Dale go 2-0 down, and seemingly lose all 3 points!

However, as we have seen under Steve Parkin, the players never say die.  A mistake by Regan on the left saw Lee Cartwright take it round him, put a fantastic cross into the box, which then saw an unorthodox finish past the stranded keeper for a fantastic Dale goal (Addict, get seasoning that clothing!) - cue chants of "We're going to win 3-2" from the Dale faithful!  An awesome goal from the former Kidderminster man who chested the ball past the keeper while turning.  Fantastic stuff!

Minutes later, Dale went for a 4-3-3 formation, replacing the creator Lee Cartwright with a finisher, Rickie Lambert.  Practically straight after, Holt was fouled on the edge of the Chester area, and the ground breathed a sigh of relief as Parkin jumped, smiled and pointed at Rickie Lambert who put the ball down.  A mixture of poor organisation from MacKenzie, a dodgy wall, and a great Lambert bottom-corner-finish saw Dale back on level terms!  There was a big gap towards the left side of the wall and it was noted before he struck it that it was going straight into that bottom corner and bang, 2-2 and the Dale faithful went mad!

Dale continued to attack, and some would say were very unlucky to come away with just one point but before the game, many were saying they'd take 4 points from these 2 home games and we're still well on course for that.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 7

Not a bad game for Gilks, decent kicking and a few quality saves.

GARY BROWN 9 Great game for 'massive', staked a place as a permanent feature

Tommy Jaszczun 7 Didn't do much wrong, and showed some decent passing ability.

Rory McArdle 7

Average game for the loanee

Tony Gallimore 7 Average game for Gallimore, the defence certainly misses Griff!

Lee Cartwright 7

Set up a goal and nearly scored, proved dangerous again for Dale.

Alan Goodall 7

Decent game for Goody, unlucky not to see more end product from his efforts.

Gary Jones 8

Captain's performance again from Jonah, beginning to see the Jonah of old!

Jamie Clarke 8

Broke up Chester's play very well, did the simple stuff well, and displayed some awesome passes!

Blair Sturrock 8

Full of running, and once again got a fully deserved goal.

Grant Holt 7

Once again average game for Holty, not helped by referees' preconceptions when they see 9-Holt on a shirt.

Sub:  

Rickie Lambert 8

Did well when he came on, sparked Dale into life… could we see a return to 4-3-3?

Photo: Action Images

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