Well, there isn't much that needs to be said about a revenge mission on this one is there. A last meeting we would rather forget and hopefully will never be repeated. A damned good thrashing is what is called for so go to it greens I say. Thing is though Rochdale is a weird team. They go from scoring for fun in games to letting loads in and not being able to buy a result. For all around entertainment unless you are a fan of theirs you probably couldn't ask for more. We know we can win this one though so as long as the boys in green are up for it then no reason to doubt it. Unless it gets waterlogged that is. COYG
Cooper, Watts, Opoku, Aimson, Fornah, Grant, Mayor, Moore, Camara, Ennis Jephcott. Subs McCormick, Edwards, Hardie, Reeves, Lolos, Lewis, Woods. Edwards only on the bench ?
I'd rather have Joe Edwards than Byron Moore, if he's fully fit. Maybe he's not ready for 90 minutes.
0-0...H/T.....poor game...Argyle look most likely to score ...but too many wasted balls....not impressed by the Ref.....Rochdale gaining yards every throw in.
0-0...F/T I want my £10 back...what a pathetic game...what a pathetic referee. One of the few teams not to win at Rochdale this season. Argyle just didn't do enough against a very poor Rochdale team....National League teams could have done better....very disappointing. MOTM...Cooper for the one good save he had to make....Opoku played well....and Danny Mayor now and again did well...but no finishing pass to win the points...which is usual of course.
Poor game, poor performance, poor result, poor referee. With Peterborough and Lincoln to come next, we'll need to do a lot better than that.
Got to mention the Ref again. 1.....He pulled Argyle back from a very good opportunity from a break away for a foul against Argyle in the build up to it.....I think it was Camara who was away with support coming through in the centre. 2.....Every Rochdale throw in was 10 yards further up field....he did once make them go back. 3.....There was a foul on an Argyle player within ten yards of the Ref....and somehow he saw the opposite. 4.....He was whistle happy for little contacts....but some quite heavy stuff he waved play on. 5.....Rochdale's substitute forward clashed with an Argyle player and stayed down injured....he was allowed treatment for ages...every time he got up and tried to walk he went down again or just stood there wiggling his foot....with the trainer just looking at him it was obvious he was going off....the Ref did nothing to hurry it up....in fact the player stopped a few more times before getting off the pitch....it killed any momentum in play off....just what Rochdale wanted to do. 6.....And of course you couldn't make it up ....the Refs name was Mr Wright....which he wasn't for most of the 90 minutes.
Can't argue with any of that to be honest. Poor football, poor game and an even poorer Ref. You missed out the twice that Mayor got absolutely clattered by one of their's taking off five foot away and landing on Mayor from a great height. How he could allow that I have no idea. My best guess is he had backed us for a nil nil draw. I will not bother with the other hefty fouls let go. Any idea why Opoku got booked? I haven't a clue as I couldn't even see a foul at all..
I think the consensus today was that it was a bit of a waste of the £10 to watch and there are probably many who wished they had gone back to bed rather than subject themselves to that. I read the write up on the beeb site and whoever wrote that was not watching for sure. According to him/her Rochdale had the best of the first half...................really???? In which game was that then because it wasn't today.
Potentially the most damaging mistake the ref made was the "foul" on McLaughlin by Adam Lewis in the 96th minute just on the corner of the penalty box. I said during the first half that I could see the ref losing it for us by giving them a soft penalty: this was wasn't quite that but it wasn't far off. McLaughlin took a step after the challenge and then, seeing he had nowhere to go, fell over. How the officials can't see that kind of thing I don't know. I think Opoku got booked for dissent. I understand his frustration for having a free kick given for what looked like a reasonable tackle but he's got to learn to keep his mouth shut. He's being booked nearly every week, which is an occupational hazard for CB's, but he's adding to it by being too demonstrative with his protests. By all means say "that was a perfectly fair challenge if I may say so old chap and I jolly well got the ball" but don't get in his face and wave your arms as if you are about to lamp him, much as he may deserve it.
Thing is notdistant Opoku didn't get anything. He never touched the player at all. Not sure it was for dissent though but we won't know will we because we never get told those things. I have to say that was probably the worst Ref I've seen for a very very very long time. The basic play on advantage he stopped was farcical and if it had been the other way around I might have collapsed laughing. He should give himself a Red card for stopping a goal scoring opportunity. Having said that it was pretty rubbish all round though wasn't it.
