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Rochdale 1 Wanderers 1

Posted on: Sat 24 Jul 2010

Wanderers had to settle for a share of the spoils on their return to English soil as Rochdale fought back to grab a 1-1 draw at Spotland.

Robbie Blake's first half penalty had looked like being the only difference but Chris O'Grady grabbed an equaliser six minutes from time to end the Whites winning start to pre-season.

In temperatures much cooler than that in North America, 18 members of the first-team squad were given a strong work-out against a resilient Dale side, who displayed the quality and spirit to suggest that they will be a force in League One this season.

Owen Coyle had hinted after the match in Toronto that he would now start taking the opportunity to give his players longer game-time and with that in mind Kevin Davies, Zat Knight, Gary Cahill, Paul Robinson, Ricardo Gardner were all left out of the matchday squad.

Adam Bogdan was handed his first start in a Bolton shirt while Stuart Holden was also given a place in the eleven for the first time this pre-season as Owen Coyle deployed a 4-3-3 formation with Danny Ward, Robbie Blake and Johan Elmander spearheading the attack.

Rochdale had continued their momentum from a promotion winning 2009/10 campaign in the early weeks of pre-season by beating Rossendale and Fleetwood Town 2-0 and 3-0 respectively, and they got off to a bright start in the opening stages.

Brian Barry-Murphy saw a 20-yard free-kick deflected wide and central defender Craig Dawson towered to head over from a corner. Gretar Steinsson also had to be alert to slide in and clear from inside his own six yard box following Scott Wiseman's dangerous low cross.

Rochdale knocked the ball around fluently and inside the first quarter of the contest the Whites were restricted to just two corners and a swift attacking move involving Blake, Holden and Steinsson down the right touchline.

Holden was Wanderers' source of creation in midfield, always finding space and wanting the ball, and it was the American international who had Bolton's first shot of the game on half hour. However, his skidding effort from outside the box was dragged wide and of no trouble for goalkeeper Josh Lillis.

That effort seemed to spark the visitors into life as just three minutes later Tamir Cohen rattled the crossbar with a powerful header. Elmander fired in a cross from the left and the Israeli midfielder was unlucky to see the first time effort canon off the bar from 10 yards out.

After the slow start, Wanderers had certainly stepped up their game by a few gears and it was no surprise to see them take the lead on 35 minutes.

Steinsson, who had found space several times during the first-half, crossed low and when the ball struck the arm of Craig Dawson inside the box, referee Haines reacted to the waving flag of the linesman and pointed to the spot.

Robbie Blake had showed composure to score in the shoot-out at BMO Field on Wednesday and he once again held his nerve from 12 yards out to send Lillis the wrong way.

Wanderers were now bossing the game and Lillis' smart save from another Cohen effort prevented the lead being doubled just moments after the opening goal.

But Dale striker Chris O'Grady was just a few yards away from levelling five minutes before the break when his curling shot from outside the box flew narrowly over the bar.

Owen Coyle made just the three changes at half-time as Riga, Sam Ricketts and Martin Petrov came on in the place of Danny Ward, Chris Basham and Sean Davis. There was also a switch in formation as the Dutch attacker partnered Elmander in attack in a re-jigged 4-4-2 line-up.

Rochdale's lively attacker Jean Louis Akpa Akpro and combative midfielder Gary Jones blazed high and wide either side of the Whites fourth and fifth changes of the afternoon on the hour mark which was Matt Taylor on for Tamir Cohen and Mark Davies replacing Robbie Blake.

Martin Petrov had started his Wanderers career in fantastic fashion during the tour to North America and if it hadn't been for an instinctive reflex save by Lillis on 65 minutes then the Bulgarian would have surely had his second goal of pre-season.

Elmander and Riga combined nicely and when Petrov lashed in a thunderbolt from the edge of the box, Rochdale's keeper produced the save of the game to palm the ball around the post after it had taken a deflection en route to goal.

Up the other end and Bogdan also made a fine save to tip O'Grady's effort over the post on 70 minutes, but unlike Lillis, the Hungarian wasn't given the credit for making such a smart save as a goal-kick was indicated.

But the scores should have already been level at that point as somehow Joe Thompson managed to skew wide from point-blank range when presented with an opportunity at the far post.

Further substitutions saw Joey O'Brien and Fabrice Muamba introduced in the latter stages before Rochdale grabbed their equaliser six minutes before the end.

It was third time lucky for O'Grady as he cut inside from the left and smashed in a low effort across goal past the reach of Bogdan.

The equaliser was the start of a frantic final few minutes as Riga had the chance to restore the Whites' lead with a volley from eight yards and Bogdan tipped substitute Done's curling effort around the post with a full length stop.

Despite the action packed ending neither side managed to claim a winner and a share of the spoils had to be settled for.

Rochdale: Lillis, Wiseman, Dawson, Holness, Widdowson, Kennedy, Jones, Barry-Murphy, Thompson (Done 73), Akpa Akpro (Morgan 62), O'Grady (Subs not used: Goodall, Edwards, O'Donnell, Flynn, Gray)

Bolton: Bogdan, Samuel (Joey O'Brien 73), Andy O'Brien, Basham (Ricketts 46), Steinsson, Sean Davis (Petrov 46), Holden, Cohen (Mark Davies 60), Blake (Taylor 60), Ward (Riga 46), Elmander (Muamba 71) (Subs not used: Lainton)