Mansfield Town Res. 5 - Rochdale Res. 2

Report by Gordon Cleugh at Field Mill

The match saw Bradley on the bench for the first time since the start of the season. Tankard was almost unrecognisable with an Asher style cropped hair cut. Stags attacked the Quarry Lane end and the early exchanges saw Mansfield slightly on top. Stags finally broke the deadlock in the 22nd minute with a header from Hurst from 10 yards out which looked as if it was going over but crept in the top right hand corner off the crossbar way out of reach of the Rochdale keeper.

Rochdale came straight back and within a minute had a shot from the left hand side of the box which whistled past the far post. Barrett and Jervis both received cautions just after the half hour mark for illegal challenges. In the 34th minute, Lazarus was upended going down the right about 20 yards from the corner flag. He left the field for treatment and when the ball was crossed from the free kick Tankard was there to place it in the net. Bacon drove home the 3rd from close range a minute before half time.

In the 55th minute Bacon was through on the right but misplaced his pass to Harris. He made up for this a couple of minutes later when his cross from the right found Harris unmarked at the far post 3 yards out and he stuck the ball in the back of the net. In 62nd minute Rochdale pulled a goal back. A long cross from the left by Duffy found Durkan at the far post who headed the ball down to Gray who rifled it home from 6 yards.

Stags made a double substitution on 70 minutes with White and Bradley replacing Bacon and Harris. On 71 minutes Rochdale pulled another goal back when a Stags clearance fell to Hoyland on the edge of the box whose unstoppable shot flew into the top left hand corner. In the final minute, Lazarus put a cross over from the left which was just a bit too high for Bradley in the middle. In the 3rd minute of stoppage time, Bradley received the ball on the edge of the box, turned his defender and his shot to the near post was put out for a corner by the keeper. The corner was put to the far post where Bradley won the race to put it in the net. There was just enough time to kick off before the final whistle went.

Stags Line Up: Bingham, Asher, Jervis, Clarke, Holyoak, Barrett, Lazarus, Tankard, Bacon, Harris, Hurst Subs: A. White, Buxton, Elliott, Bradley, J. White

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www.rochdaleafc.co.uk

Dale's Second String Lose To The Stags.

Mansfield Town Res. 5 - Rochdale Res. 2
Rochdale's reserve team took on Mansfield Town reserves in the Avon Insurance League.
Dave Flitcroft, Graeme Atkinson, Kieron Durkan and Lee Duffy travelled to Nottinghamshire for the reserve game, along with Andy Thorpe, Jamie Holyland and Dave Hamilton.
Playing with a few first teamers in the ranks, Rochdale didn't play to well in the first half and end the first 45 minutes three down.
Dale put in a better performance in the second half and 'drew' 2-2, making a final score of 5-2 to the Stags.
Wayne Gray, a trialist from Wimbledon, scored for Rochdale along with Jamie Hoyland, who hit a peach of a shot from outside the area to grab his goal.
Dave Hamilton, who played for the first ten minutes, left the field with a pulled hamstring, but was happier with Dale's second half performance.