Bury 0 - 0 Rochdale

Bury v Rochdale

Rochdale and Bury had to settle for a share of the spoils in this keenly contested derby at an excited Gigg Lane. Josh Lillis had to be at his best to keep out Leon Clarke on a couple of occasions including a triple save.

With Dale boss Keith Hill coming up against his best mate Dave Flitcroft, there was always a side story ahead of this derby clash. Hill made two changes to his starting eleven with Scott Tanser and Jamie Allen starting ahead of Tom Kennedy and Donal McDermott. New loan goalkeeper Joel Castro Pereira took his place on the bench.

Bury, currently on a nine game unbeaten run looked dangerous through Danny Mayor but rarely threatened Lillis in the opening 45 minutes. Dale leading scorer Peter Vincenti mistimed his volley when well placed in his sides best attack.

Mayor was increasingly causing problems for young full back Andy Cannon and when the Dale man was caught out of position midway through the first half Matty Lund tracked back to brilliantly tackle the Bury winger inside the area.

Bury's best chance came in the dying moments before the interval when Jones’ right wing cross found Clarke at the backpost with Lillis somehow getting down to block not only the first shot but a follow up as well. The loose ball fell kindly to Tom Soares but he was foiled by the quick reactions of Lillis who was quickly back on his feet.

Mayor continued his forays forward down the Dale right, again beating Cannon before pulling the ball back dangerously. Soares sent a thunderous shot at goal that Lancashire bravely blocked with his face 18 yards out.

Dale introduced Donal McDermott and Ian Henderson in the second half as Hill looked to take the game to Bury. McDermott’s first involvement was to send a perfect cross into the area for Vincenti; he was denied by a brilliant low stop by Lainton.

Some meaty challenges saw six players go into the referee’s notebook. Reece Brown was lucky to only receive a caution when he recklessly went through Lewis Alessandra whilst Peter Clarke had to leave the field with a bloodied nose after a coming together with Vincenti.

The last action saw Lillis called upon again. Mayor’s dangerous cross looked easy for Clarke at the back post with Lillis again somehow denying the Bury striker from close range.

In the end a draw was just about a fair result although Bury will feel they had the better of the chances to take all three points.

Attendance: 6,470 (1,572 from Rochdale)

Rochdale: Lillis, Cannon, McNulty, Lancashire, Tanser, Rafferty (Andrew 39), Lund, Allen (c), Vincenti, Mendez-Laing (Henderson 58), Alessandra (McDermott 77)
Subs: (not used) Pereira, Eastham, Camps, Bunney

Bury: Lainton, Riley, P Clarke, Cameron (c), Pugh, Jones (Mellis 66), Soares, Brown, Mayor, Pope (Erwin 74), L Clarke
Subs: (not used) Ruddy, Sedgwick, Burgess, Dudley, Rose

Referee: Mr A Woolmer
Assistants: Mr R Massey-Ellis & Mr R Akin
Fourth Official: Mr D Richardson