Rochdale claimed all three points in a game that ultimately could have gone either way in the Vanarama National League tonight.
There was just the one change for FC Halifax Town tonight as former Rochdale Academy product Florent Hoti came into the side to replace the suspended Adan George.
Andrew Oluwabori had the opening shot of the game as he cut in from the left-hand side before driving the ball low and hard, but David Robson saved comfortably.
Moments later, Adam Senior picked up a booking just ten minutes into the game for a fair but robust challenge on his man.
Halifax enjoyed a lot of early possession in this local derby, and this nearly paid dividends thanks to Ryan Galvin’s looping cross, which was inches away from meeting the head of Smith.
The games level card tally was then levelled as Dale man Tarryn Allarakhia hacked down Galvin. Hoti then sent in a testing ball, but the home defence dealt with it well.
The Shaymen had a freekick in a very dangerous area on the half-hour mark. Hoti struck the ball beautifully with his preferred left foot, but Robson did just enough to push the ball onto the post.
Against the run of play, the home side took the lead 5 minutes from halftime; a corner taken short was eventually whipped in towards the back post to the unmarked Kyron Gordon, who nodded back across the face of goal, beating Sam Johnston.
Despite just taking the lead, the Dale players were irate after Kairo Mitchell was booked for delaying the restart after a free kick was given.
Oluwabori was given the chance to get the visitors level just before the break, but his shot was deflected and dropped nicely into the palms of Robson. After one minute of additional time, the referee blew for halftime, and Rochdale went into the break with one goal to the good.
Jack Evans released a shot from distance just after the restart, but it trickled narrowly wide. Oluwabori then drove into the box before getting a shot away, but Robson got down well to save.
On the 70th minute mark, Town looked to the bench and made the first change of the game; Tom Pugh came on in place of Jo Cummings.
Rochdale then made a change of their own as Kyle Ferguson replaced Jill Buyabu.
After a spell of pressure, Halifax found a leveller; Pugh picked up the ball; he then fed the ball into Billy Waters, who squeezed the ball in on a tight angle with a delightfully placed header. Town were deservedly level after dominating most of the game. This was Waters third goal in four games.
Rochdale responded to this with a goal of their own just five minutes later. Some lovely footwork in the box from Allarakhia was followed by a chip into the box, which McBride did brilliantly with to angle his header into the bottom left corner.
More subs followed. Finlay Armstrong and Aidan Barlow replaced the experienced Ian Henderson and McBride.
Five minutes were added at the end of the 90 as Town looked to level.
Sam Johnson came up for a corner in the last minute of the game; he won the header, but it bounced into the hands of the Rochdale keeper. To the dismay of the visiting Halifax faithful. Following this, the referee blew for full time. It was a game that could have gone either way, but eventually the home team did enough for all 3 points in this Lancashire vs. Yorkshire tie.
Match Stats
Rochdale
31 David Robson, 2 Kyron Gordon, 4 Ryan East, 7 Tarryn Allarakhia, 9 Kairo Mitchell, 19 Jake Burger, 21 Connor McBride (18 Aidan Barlow 86), 26 Liam Hogan, 30 Jili Buyabu (16 Kyle ferguson 74), 33 Sam Beckwith, 40 Ian Henderson (3 Finlay Armstrong 83)
12 Bradley Kelly, 5 Aaron Henry, 11 Ody Alfa, 17 Courtney Senior
FC Halifax Town
1 Sam Johnson ©, 3 Ryan Galvin, 5 Adam Senior, 15 Will Smith, 2 Jo Cummings (23 Tom Pugh 71), 6 Jack Evans, 30 Scott High (26 Owen Bray 83), 10 Jamie Cooke, 29 Billy Waters, 18 Florent Hoti, 22 Andrew Oluwabori
Subs: 12 Nathaniel Ford, 27 Adam Adetoro, 14 Harvey Sutcliffe, 20 Jack Jenkins, 24 Frankie Sinfield
Referee: Michael Barlow
Goals: Gordon 40, Waters 76, McBride 81
Yellow Cards: A Senior 11, Allarakhia 19, Mitchell 43
Red Cards: None
Attendance: 2926 (607 away)
Rochdale 2 FC Halifax Town 1
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