Dale\'s poor run continued as they failed to take advantage of their superiority over their Dr.Marten\'s league opponents in a game with few chances for either side. It was a game that Dale should have won, but the same problems that have plagued us in recent games were evident once again. As a result, the scoreless run now stands at about five hundred minutes.

Dale went into the game with a few enforced changes. Dean Stokes made a long awaited return to the side. Mark Monington and Graham Hicks formed the central defensive partnership. Steve Parkin opted to continue with Julian Dowe and Clive Platt up front, but to be fair neither did anything to frighten the resolute home defence who coped easily with anything Dale could offer. It really was the usual tale of Dale having a great deal of possession but were unable to do anything with it.

Neil Edwards, who was in front of the travelling Dale fans in the first half, had just one save to make in the whole match. This came in the first half when a curled attempt forced the Welshman to dive to his left to save easily. At the other end, Clive Platt came closest to scoring for Dale, but he found his header well saved by the Father Ted look alike in the Burton goal.

The second half, with Dale attacking the end with the Dale contingent, was no better than the first. Gary Jones came on to replace the injured Graeme Atkinson. We had some abysmal conditions during the second half, which had all the ingredients of a giant killing act. We had rain, wind, hail and anything you could think of, but the nearest the home side came to scoring was when a long distance shot went a long way wide of the post.

Michael Holt was introduced replacing Julian Dowe, and he at least brought a bit more to the attack. Holt was only able to have one attempt on goal, when he found a bit of space down the right hand side. He cut in but due to excellent closing down by the home defence, his shot ended up being a weak one which went straight to the keeper.

Dale forced a succession of corners, but they were all too predictable and we rarely threatened to score from one. Clive Platt was well marked at corners by player manager Nigel Clough, and he found it hard to win anything in the air.

Many Dale fans were left howling with just five minutes to go, following a move down he left hand wing. The ball seemed to land leaving Platt the simple chance of putting into the back of the net, but he hesitated, and a defender was able to clear the ball. This was by far Dale\'s best chance of the entire game.

The final whistle brought a few boos from the travelling fans. Perhaps when you look how Carlisle fared just down the road in Ilkeston, a draw away was not as bad a result as it could have been.

It had been announced during the match, the Dale fans were informed that they were to be held back for ten minutes after the game. We were released after about five minutes to find a few Burton idiots looking for trouble. One story suggested about a dozen of them attacked a couple of innocent Dale fans as they made their way out.

About five minutes later the Police arrived in numbers, but it was all a bit too late. The whole point about keeping the Dale fans behind was to cut out any possible trouble, not to give the idiots a chance to assemble themselves by the away end.

Dale: Edwards, Evans, Stokes, Hicks, Monington, Ford, Flitcroft, Peake, Atkinson (Jones), Dowe (Holt), Platt. (subs not used Priestley, Carden, Peyton)

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