On a day when Pools awesome traveling army out numbered the home fans, the action on the pitch didn’t go the way of Danny Wilson’s side and we’ve now handed the initiative back to Richard Money’s Walsall.
A second minute goal from Glenn Murray and a 79th minute penalty from Chris Dagnall sealed all three points for Keith Hill’s Rochdale.
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With Ben Clark suspended after his sending off against Notts County last week Danny Wilson sprung a surprise on the traveling fans by naming Mark Tinkler in the centre of defence alongside Michael Nelson, the rest of the starting eleven remained unchanged with Tony Sweeney and Joel Porter forced to settle for a place on the subs bench.
The game was just over 60 seconds old when the gamble on Mark Tinkler looked to have backfired, Chris Dagnall ran at Tinks and managed to get a shot away as Pools new central defender tried to turn and keep up with the pacey Dale man, Konstantopoulos could only parry the shot so Glenn Murray accepted the gift and lifted the ball over Dimi and into the back of the net, an awful start for Pools.
On 4 minutes Pools should have been level, some great work by James Brown down the right saw the ball drilled into the Dale penalty area, it reached Andy Monkhouse who sided footed into the welcoming arms of Matt Gilks.
On 11 minutes James Brown danced into the box and was felled by a combination of Ramsden and A.N. Other, referee Mr Whitestone pointed to the spot, much to the delight of the traveling army. Barker stepped up and drilled the ball goalwards only to see Gilks block his effort, bugger!
Within five minutes the referee was pointing to the spot again, this time at the other end though. Tinkler brought down Murray but Dimi saved Rundle’s kick was his feet, if that had of gone in it would have been almost game over with only 16 minutes on the clock.
On the half hour mark Michael Nelson was forced to leave the action after picking up a couple of blows to his head, well at least at the time that looked the reason for him going off, but the official website is tonight saving that he has a medial ligament problem in his knee so he looks unlikely to feature next week at home to Bristol Rovers.
Tony Sweeney took Nelsons place with Gary Liddle dropping back into the middle of the defence. The remainder of the first half saw Pools continue to push Dale back without creating any clear cut scoring chances.
Half Time: Rochdale 1 Hartlepool 0
The second half begin with Pools back on the attack, the opening 12 minutes of the half saw Pools almost camped inside the Rochdale half with the home side having to settle for playing on the break. On 58 minutes Danny Wilson replaced Eifion Williams with David Foley and on 66 minutes Joel Porter came on for Willie Boland.
In the 75th minute Pools were reduced to 10 men when Richie Barker blocked a shot on the line with his hands leaving the referee with no option but to send him off. Chris Dagnall slotted home the resulting penalty and Dale looked home and dry.
Three minutes later and Andy Monkhouse launched himself into a tackle on the half way line, all hell broke loose for a 30 seconds as players went flying in, eventually the referee regained control and showed Monkhouse a straight red for the challenge and also a red for Dale’s John Doolan for his reaction.
The game entered its closed stages and both James Brown and Joel Porter had great chances to reduce the homesides lead but both lifted their shots over the Rochdale goal.
Full Time: Rochdale 2 Hartlepool United 0
I watched Mark Tinkler play centre back for the reserves last week and he did have a very good game, but the first 15 minutes of this encounter saw him struggling for pace and first team fitness. To be fare he was very good in the second half but by then the damage was done, it’s got to be said, why didn’t Danny just drop Gary Lidde back like he has done on numerous occassions this campaign?
Walsall now top the table on goal difference, it will all go down to next weeks games when Pools face Bristol Rovers and Walsall travel to Swindon.
Rochdale:
Gilks, Ramsden, Crooks, McArdle, Goodall, Thompson, Doolan, Perkins, Rundle, Dagnall (Brown 84), Murray
Subs not used:
Rigby, Poole, Louis Dodds, Reet
Hartlepool United:
Konstantopoulos, Darren Williams, Nelson (Sweeney 31), Tinkler, Humphreys, Brown, Liddle, Boland (Porter 66), Monkhouse, Eifion Williams (Foley 58), Barker
Subs not used: Provett, Bullock
Attendance: 5846 (3000 Poolies)
Referee: D Whitestone (Northampton)
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