Fleetwood Town 0 - 0 Rochdale

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Ian Henderson had Rochdale's best chance

Rochdale left the Fylde coast with a valuable point after this stalemate at cold Highbury Stadium. In a game of few chances, both sides had one glorious opportunity each but failed to take.

David Ball fired wide when he intercepted a weak back pass from Ian Henderson whilst Henderson lifted the ball over Town keeper Alex Cairns but wide of the post when picked out by Kitching.

Keith Hill made five changes to the Dale side for this trip to high flying Fleetwood. Niall Canavan, Andy Cannon, Jamie Allen, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Joe Thompson all got the nod.

Fleetwood came into the game on the back of a 13 game unbeaten run in the league and started this game well without really troubling the Dale defence.

Dale started to impose themselves on the game with full back Mark Kitching having two shots from distance go close. The first was well saved by Cairns whilst the second was always rising over the bar.

Fleetwood seemed intent on using the pace of striker Ashley Hunter but when he beat the offside trap, Ben Wilson in the Dale goal kept him at bay.

Calvin Andrew was brought on at the start of the second half to add a bit of height to the attack but it was the Dale defence who were called upon straight from the kick-off. A mistake by Ian Henderson as he tried to head back to Wilson allowed David Ball to nip in and intercept the attempted back pass but he fired wide from in front of the goal with Keith Keane in close attendance.

Mark Kitching was involved in most of what Dale attempted and when he sent a raking diagonal pass to Henderson, the striker found himself one-on-one with Cairns. With more time than he realised, Henderson opted to lift the ball over the stricken keeper but the ball bounced wide.

Ollie Rathbone fired a shot wide of the right hand post late on as the game ended in stalemate.

It was well earned point for Dale who head to Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday evening for their first visit to the Macron Stadium.

Fleetwood: Cairns, Sowerby (Nirennold 46), Eastham, Bolger, Davies, Bell, Grant, Dempsey, Glendon (Schwabl 57), Hunter (Burns 77), Ball ©.
Subs: (not used) Neale, Brannagan, Davis, Cole

Rochdale: Wilson, Cannon, Keane, Canavan, Kitching, Rafferty, Allen, Rathbone (Redshaw 86), Mendez-Laing (Camps 62), Henderson ©, Thompson (Andrew 46).
Subs: (not used) Logan, McNulty, McGahey, Noble-Lazarus

Referee: Mr J Simpson
Assistants: Mr S Hudson and Mr T Peart
Fourth Official: Mr P Gooch

Attendance: 3,186