Rochdale’s unbeaten start to the season ended at Valley Parade when Dale made the short trip over to the wrong side of the Pennines to take on Bradford City.

Dale went down 2-0 at Valley Parade in a game that on another day, could have easily gone in Dale's favour.

Keith Hill opted to go Ciaran Toner on the right wing instead of Kallum Higginbotham in an otherwise unchanged line-up as Dale lined up with:

Russell, Ramsden, McArdle, Stanton, Kennedy, Toner, Keltie, Jones, Rundle, Shaw and Dagnall.

Both teams started brightly with Bradford's wingers Joe Colbeck and Omar Daley both causing their fair share of problems to the Dale defence.

Although it must be said that Colbeck looked a much better player than Daley did with Daley once again proving he's there with the fasted players in the lower leagues.

Despite his frightening pace it became blatantly clear that there's little end product from Daley, and unfortunately for Dale, the same couldn't be said for the clinical finishing from Peter Thorne and Michael Boulding.

Dale had the better of the opening stages with Rundle managing to cut inside but screwed a shot well wide of the post.

Rundle also set up a fantastic chance for Ciaran Toner to get on the end of but Toner’s header wasn’t quite good enough.

It wasn’t for lack of trying that Dale couldn’t score but as the game went on it just looked like it wasn’t going to be our day.  Chris Dagnall did well on the edge of the box to shoot across goal but Shaw couldn’t reach it and it evaded everyone.

Then, typically, on 20 minutes, Bradford went and scored, completely against the run of play.  Peter Thorne crossed for Michael Boulding to head past Russell making it 1-0.

While Dale had easily more chances to score, Bradford looked sharper than we were and they looked outstanding on the flanks with Daley and Colbeck causing Ramsden and TK all sorts of problems.  Their defence played well as a unit as well but Dale continued to create chances but like at Grimsby and against Oldham, it was the finishing that let Dale down.

A few minutes after the goal, Daggers created an opening and blasted the ball goalwards but Rhys Evans tipped it over for a corner.

Jon Shaw again failed to get on the end of a low Rundle cross and it all became quite frustrating for the 915 Dale fans.

With ten minutes left until half time, Bradford doubled their lead thus increasing the visiting fans frustration.  A soft free kick was given away by Nathan Stanton on the edge of the box and it was a decision that 90% of the Dale faithful completely disagreed with.  Paul McLaren crossed the freekick to the back post where Peter Thorne was completely unmarked to head home his 5^th goal in 4 games and his 20^th goal in just 39 games for Bradford.

The second half was more of the same really, with Rochdale having lots of possession but failing to put the ball where it mattered, the back of the net.

Clark Keltie was the stand out player for Rochdale again as he continued to impress following his summer move from Darlington and it was him who was next to go close to scoring for Dale as he had an effort just tipped over the bar.

Adam Le Fondre replaced Ciaran Toner and Scott Wiseman replaced Simon Ramsden as Dale continued to press.

Le Fondre impressed after coming on and although people say they can’t play together, I think he deserves to start alongside Dagnall on Saturday. 

Alfie had a shot that was easily saved by Evans not long after coming on and followed that by getting on the end of a Wiseman through but his effort smashed the cross bar and the rebound fell to Dagnall whose effort was blocked on the line.

Bradford did break away on the attack a couple of times as the Dale defence were exposed and Mickey Boulding must still be wondering how he didn’t score when his superb effort hit the inside of the post, ran along the line and then spun out for a goalkick somehow.

Lee Thorpe replaced Jon Shaw with about ten minutes left

Dale were still creating chances though and Dagnall had a shot well saved by Evans before a Tom Kennedy freekick went over and hit the roof of the net.

Lee Thorpe’s header in the dying minutes flew over the bar and into the celebrating Bradford fans and that proved to be the last chance Dale created in what was an infuriating game to watch from a Dale perspective.

The blow was softened by a few Bradford fans who came up to us and told us that they were very impressed with the Dale performance and that we were one of the better sides they’d seen in quite a while but it still read 2-0 to Bradford in the paper.

Photo: Action Images

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