Rochdale managed a late equaliser to come away with a point from Cheltenham Town and perhaps deserved more than we got. Full match report and player ratings online now.

It was boring, it was expensive for those who paid on the day and it was cold enough to freeze the knackers off a brass monkey but we came away from Whaddon Road with a good point thanks to a late equaliser from Rickie Lambert.

Despite this point, we've dropped to 16th in the league with Mansfield going above us.  We only 7 points off the relegation places currently filled by Rushden and Torquay but we do have games in hand given our pitch problems.  This current run sees us with just 7 points from a possible 39 and we need to build on this point at Cheltenham.

David Baylissio went straight into the team after rejoining the club on loan last week and he partnered McArdle at the back with Stan Boardman getting dropped after one of the worst defensive displays I've ever seen at Stockport.  In fact I think the only reason McArdle played this game was because we had Griffiths, Gallimore and Jackson out injured.  Parkin finally saw a little sense and stopped playing Chris Dagnall on the right and opted for Lee Cartwright instead thankfully as we went 4-4-2.  The team was:  Gilks, Ramsden, Bayliss, McArdle, Goodall, Cartwright, Doolan, Jones, Cooksey, Christie and Lambert.

The game started off evenly but we had to wait a good quarter of an hour before any goalmouth action.  Lee Cartwright was put in and hit a left footed effort goalwards but it was like a back pass really and never even remotely looked like troubling Higgs.

Rochdale should have been 1-0 up shortly after that when Iyesden Christie didn't anticipate the ball falling to him in a great position and failed to get a shot away.  Had he done so then he'd more than likely have scored his first goal for the club.

Lee Cartwright was causing a lot of problems for Cheltenham and was having most of the Rochdale chances in fact.  He had a couple of good chances which he couldn't make the most off.  One shot he hit from a wide angle was well saved.

As this report suggests, up to this point we were really the only team in it and although we rarely looked to have quite enough to take the lead, we dominated proceedings.  It was something I certainly never expected against a promotion chasing team on their own deck.

Just typical then that a defensive error should see Rochdale go 1-0 down just before half time!!!!!

A very simple cross came in from the right wing and Steve Guinan was left completely unmarked at the front post to head home.  Yet again, simple, grass roots level defending has let us down.  McArdle failed to get near Guinan and was punished again.  It was a shame because the defence until that point had let nothing through and Bayliss looked just what we needed dishing out orders and organising us well only to be let down by something so simple.

The half time whistle blew and Dale went in 1-0 down to Cheltenham's only sodding chance on goal.

The goal seemed to have a negative effect on Rochdale and it looked as though we had handed the initiative back to Cheltenham and they looked comfortable for too much of the second half.  That said we did create a couple of half chances with Jones and Cooksey going fairly close.

Dale stepped up a gear and took the game to the home side but some immense defending from the boy Caines at the back stopped most attacks.  Lambert nearly made it 1-1 but Higgs got down well to save it. 

Other than that Lambert effort, Dale were limited to long range efforts with Doolan having a pop from twenty yards but it was harmless.

Finally, the Cheltenham defence failed to deal with something and Rochdale took advantage with Ramsden getting a cross in for Lambert to lift over the keeper into the far corner.  Finally, we'd been given some luck and looked good for a point with less than ten minutes to go.

They looked good for a point until a clear penalty was denied by the official and the Dale fans were left very relieved indeed and somewhat surprised.

Nevermind though, we held on and took a point.

bury are next up for Dale at Spotland tomorrow, provided the game is on like!

 Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 6 Did well did Gilks, no real chance with the goal but was forever shouting and he's continuing to improve

Simon Ramsden 7 Impressive as well.  Set up Lambert's goal and was much more assured at right back than he has been

Alan Goodall 6 Did well until the end when he made a couple of mistakes which nearly proved costly

Rory McArdle 6 Improved but another mistake from him cost us

DAVE BAYLISS 7 Man of the match for me.  Looked like just what we need.  He barked out the orders and organised us well and we produced a solid defensive display on the whole

Lee Cartwright 7 Did well I thought.  Got stuck in a gave a hard working, solid performance out wide on the right. 

Ernie Cooksey 6 Off the pace again I thought, obviously isn't comfortable at left wing but nothing else can be done at the moment

John Doolan 6 Didn't do too badly, just didn't have the effect he has done in the games he has played so far.

Gary Jones 7 As hard working as you'd expect from the captain who had another good game.

Rickie Lambert 7 Did well and scored the equaliser.  Caused a lot of problems for the Cheltenham defence.

Iyesden Christie 6 Caught offside a fair few times carelessly but worked hard for the most part and did cause a few problems.

Subs:  

Chris Dagnall 6 Came on for the last ten minutes or so and did alright

Photo: Action Images

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