Manchesterfootball.info visits the Crown Oil Arena but fails to see Rochdale live up to the label as football’s great entertainers.
ROCHDALE 0, CHARLTON ATHLETIC 2
In light of recent goal fests involving Rochdale, this was somewhat anti-climatic producing only two.
And it was Charlton Athletic, visitors to the Crown Oil Arena, who grabbed both as they climbed back into the Sky Bet League Two play-off places.
This was a game which ran true to form as the Addicks, with the third best away record in the division, recording an eighth away win.
Dale, meanwhile, slipped to a sixth home defeat of the season as they have the third worst record on home soil in the division.
OF the 91 teams in football’s top four divisions, none can surpass Rochdale’s games for goals.
In their 26 matches in Sky Bet League One their matches had involved a remarkable 90 goals – 40 scored, but 50 conceded.
And the 10 fixtures before the visit of Charlton produced a remarkable 50 goals, an average of five goals per game.
Dale returned home after a 2-1 win at Bristol Rovers, their first win in eight games which lifted them to 18th place.
The Addicks, meanwhile, were looking to hit back from Tuesday’s home defeat to Portsmouth as they slipped to eighth on the back of only two wins in their last 10 games.
Dale made three changes from the win against the Gas as Eoghan O’Connell returned after injury while Ryan McLaughlin and Kwadwo Baah were handed starts as Jimmy Keoghane, Matty Done and Alex Newby stepped down to the bench.
Lee Bowyer made four changes from the midweek loss as Jason Pearce, Ben Purrington, Liam Millar and Chuks Aneke started in place of Ronnie Schwartz, Albie Morgan, Adam Matthews and Ian Maatsen.
After the meeting of the two teams finished 4-4 at The Valley last month, it only took until the seventh minute before the breakthrough was made when the visitors took the lead.
Liverpool loanee Millar, a Canadian international, broke down the left and he played a pass to Aneke who turned O’Connell before firing low past Manchester City loanee goalkeeper Gavin Bazunu.
It might have been 2-0 not long after when Millar’s deflected drive struck the crossbar with Bazunu beaten.
The Addicks’ dominance was rewarded with a second goal in the 27th minute.
Jayden Stockley’s header from a corner was superbly turned on to the crossbar by Bazunu but as the ball rebounded into play it was turned in by central defender Adedeji Oshilaja, his first goal of the season.
The Addicks hit the woodwork for a third time in the 34th minute when Aneke cut inside and saw a shot strike the far upright.
Bazunu pulled off a super save low to his left to keep, out a well-struck drive from Andrew Shinnie.
Dale were unable to live with the visitors who were in total command with their dominant display in an opening period in which goal attempts were 11-1 in their favour, an indication as to their superiority.
Dale made a double change on the hour as Stephen Dooley and Haydon Roberts made way for Newby and Done as they needed new impetus if they were to get back into the match.
And that was soon followed by a further two as McLaughlin and Ollie Rathbone were replaced by Keoghane and debutant Conor Grant, a new signing from Sheffield Wednesday.
Dale came close to halving the deficit when Aaron Morley’s corner almost crept in at the near post, kept out by a combination of the upright and goalkeeper Ben Amos.
And with 11 minutes, they made their fifth and final change, debutant Jack Vale, signed on loan from Blackburn Rovers, replacing Gabriel Osho.
Late in the game Stockley went close for Charlton with a drive while Humphreys fired narrowly wide for Dale in a half which failed to hit the heights of the opening period as Charlton were largely untroubled.