Rochdale 0 - 0 Coventry City

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Keith Hill made four changes to the side that drew with Bury

Rochdale and Coventry City played out a thoroughly entertaining draw at a chilly Spotland Stadium. Both sides had chances to break the deadlock but a mixture of fantastic goalkeeping and poor finishing led to a stalemate. Even England International Joe Cole, making his debut for the visitors, couldn’t spark his side to victory.

After a bruising East Lancashire derby against Bury on Saturday, Keith Hill made four changes, two enforced. Joe Rafferty and Peter Vincenti picked up injuries at Gigg Lane three days ago whilst Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Lewis Alessandra dropped to the bench. Callum Camps, Ian Henderson, Donal McDermott and Calvin Andrew all started.

A lot of the build up to the game centred around Joe Cole, who signed for Coventry on loan from Aston Villa on Monday and was given his debut by City boss Tony Mowbray.

Rochdale started very brightly although it was Coventry who created the first couple of chances.

Jim O’Brien’s through ball was perfect for Adam Armstrong but Josh Lillis was quickly out to smother the striker’s chance.

The media hype around Cole’s move to Coventry saw plenty of national newspapers and photographers descend on Spotland and they thought they would get their headlines in the 17th minute when he went through on goal only for him to fluff his lines at the crucial moment.

Dale started to show more in attacking sense as the half wore on. Matt Lund fizzed a volley straight at Charles-Cook in the City goal whilst Ian Henderson fired agonisingly wide after latching onto a McDermott ball.

Cole used his pace and trickery to make space five minute before the interval - Olly Lancashire quickly back to pressure forcing a wayward shot.

Lillis denied Marc Antoine-Fortune with a brave block as the clock ticked over the 45 minute mark.

The end-to-end nature of the game continued in the second half.

Scott Tanser dragged a half chance wide whilst Armstrong used his pace to beat the Dale offside trap - Lillis again out to block.

Hill withdrew McDermott eight minutes after the re-start with Joe Bunney coming on and his first touch almost opened the scoring. Camps’ delightful ball over the top was perfect for Bunney but the substitute swept his volley just wide.

Bunney brought a smart save from Charles-Cook after good work from Andrew Dale pressed for a goal.

Tired legs and minds from both sets of players saw the game really open up in the last minutes with Dale’s skipper Jamie Allen missing a guilt edged chance.

Andy Cannon’s through ball found Allen unmarked inside the area, his turn and shot flashing wide as the Spotland crowd held their breath.

Mendez-Laing was introduced late on and he forced another fine save from Charles-Cook as Dale finished strongly but couldn’t break the deadlock.

Back-to-back 0-0 draws for Rochdale firmly puts a halt to the generous defending seen in the previous four games and with another local derby game against Oldham on Saturday, the Dale faithful can be optimistic they won’t see a repeat of last season’s 3-0 defeats both home and away against the Latics.

Attendance: 2,495

Rochdale: Lillis, Cannon, McNulty, Lancashire, Tanser, Lund, Camps (Mendez-Laing 75), Allen (c), Henderson, McDermott (Bunney 53), Andrew (Alessandra 64)
Subs: (not used) Castro Pereira, Eastham, Kennedy, Barry-Murphy

Coventry: Charles-Cook, Stokes, Martin, Ricketts (c), Philips, Vincelot, Morris, Cole (Kent 58), Armstrong (Murphy 73), O’Brien, Antoine-Fortune (Tudgay 53)
Subs: (not used) Burge, Thomas, Lameira, Harries

Referee: Mr M Haywood
Assistants: Mr B Cropp & Mr S Oldham
Fourth Official: Mr A Clayton