Rochdale managed to come back from Nottingham with a point which surely sees their relegation fears over and done with. A full match report and player ratings are finally online.

It wasn't pretty, the quality of football was very poor and I was so bored that I was half hoping for a part of the roof to fall off and knock me out throughout the game but still, we managed a point and go a point closer to safety.  In fact you could say that barring any miracles, we are safe now and will once again take up our position in the Rochdale Division next season.

Yet again there were changes to the team as Lee Cartwright was dropped after playing his best game for the club in the previous match.  He was replaced by John Doolan as Rochdale went 4-3-3.  Ben Kitchen was also dropped and replaced by Iyesden Christie.  Tony Gallimore was finally brought back into the side in place of Ernie Cooksey as Alan Goodall pushed up into midfield.  Dale lined up with Gilks, Ramsden, Gallimore, Jackson, Griffiths, Doolan, Goodall, Jones, Christie, Dagnall and Lambert.  On the bench were Boardman, Cooksey, Cartwright, Warner and a welcome return to the squad for Blair Sturrock whose been missing for the past 3 months with a torn hip flexor muscle.

Rochdale managed the first chance in the first half and it quite early on when Jones blasted wide from just outside the area.

Chris Palmer was causing problems down the left wing but failed to produce any end product.

Dale's leading scorer Rickie Lambert went close when he latched onto a superb Ramsden cross and his shot was saved by the feet of former Rochdale loanee Kevin Pilkington.

For once, Iyesden Christie was looking almost impressive on the left side of the front three and on a couple of occasions he managed to skin his marker and get an effort in but each time his shot was blocked.

The whistle blew for a mind-numbingly boring first half and the score was 0-0.

The first half saw Tony Gallimore play absolutely superbly and was quite easily the best player on the pitch but in the second half he struggled a tad as David Pipe managed to outpace him and force Gilks into a very good save which rebounded out to another striker and he made another good stop.

Iyesden Christie was replaced by Scott Warner just after the hour mark as Dale went to a 4-4-2 and Doolan's instruction was to go out on the right and he looked almost as baffled as we were that he was playing there when Cartwright was on the bench!

Notts County then piled on the pressure and Mark Jackson was looking slightly clumsy and nearly let them in to score twice and had they had any quality whatsoever up front then they would have made us pay.  Fortunately, they looked woeful in front of goal. 

Typically then, with about 15 minutes to go, Jackson fannied about with the ball, got dispossessed by Martin who broke forward and shot into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to Notts County.

That seemed to spur Rochdale on and they came back into the game and nearly levelled about a minute after the goal when Lambert smashed an effort just wide of the post.

Tony Gallimore was strangely taken off and Ernie Cooksey game on as Goodall dropped back to left back.

Lambert was involved in getting Rochdale's equaliser.  He'd really impressed in the second half and he managed to put Dagnall through after completely bamboozling the Notts County defence with a clever turn and chipped the ball through to Dagnall.  Daggers was one on one with the keeper and then fouled by former Biffo Julian Baudet who had his arms all over the Dale striker.  The decision, having seen it on replay was a little harsh maybe BUT, having given the penalty, the referee failed to send off the defender despite him clearly stopping a goalscoring opportunity.

Lambert stepped up and placed the ball into the right corner sending Pilko the wrong way for his 20th goal of the season, all of which have come in the league.

Lambert then produced some more class and set up Jones who went up for a 50/50 with the keeper, managed to get his head on the ball but his header was cleared off the line by Baudet who shouldn't have been on the pitch.  Jonah was taken out by the County keeper in the challenge and the Dale players and fans appealed for a penalty but again, the referee bottled it

Blair Sturrock came off the bench for his first appearance since January to a good reception from the travelling fans and his first touch of the ball in stoppage time set up Lambert with a neat headed layoff and Lambert had a good chance to win the game but his effort lacked power and was comfortable for Pilkington.

The game ended 1-1.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 7 Had a much better game than usual, well done

Simon Ramsden 7 Impressive again.  Looks a good all round full back to me, likes to get forward and has a good cross on him and can defend a bit as well

Tony Gallimore 7 Typical Gallimore, calm and composed as usual and was the best player on the pitch in the first half.  Was taken off in the second half though bizarrely

Mark Jackson 5 Cost us a goal and looked dodgy on a few occasions

Gareth Griffiths 7 Not a bad game for Griffiths in what was his 200th Dale game

John Doolan 6 A couple of misplaced passes but much better from Doolan until he was moved out wide

Alan Goodall 7 Did quite well down the left side of midfield and looked to get forward whenever he could

Gary Jones 7 Poor in the first half but came to life in the second half and was involved in a few chances

Chris Dagnall 7 Caused problems for Notts County and won the penalty we eventually equalised from

RICKIE LAMBERT 8 Set up Dagnall for the penalty and then banged in his 20th goal of the season.  Some of the skill he showed was quite unreal as well.  My M.O.M

Iyesden Christie 6 A bit better from Christie who caused a few problems but he wouldn't be starting ahead of Sturrock for me now he's back

Subs:  

Ernie Cooksey 6 Didn't do much after replacing Gallimore on 76 minutes

Scott Warner 6 Replaced Christie just after the hour as Dale went 4-4-2 again, he did ok

Blair Sturrock 7 Good to see him back and his first touched set up a good chance for Lambert

Photo: Action Images

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