On a cold, wet and wintry Saturday lunchtime, Tamworth welcomed Rochdale to The Altair Group Community Stadium for their 12.30pm kick off in the Enterprise National League, with the game being shown live on DAZN.

Andy Peaks’ side 9th placed side, buoyant after the 2-1 comeback win away at promotion chasing Boreham Wood the previous Saturday were mindful of another tough test against James McNulty’s 2nd placed Dale who would go top ahead of the 3pm kick offs, if they recorded a victory.

Peaks made no changes to the side that ran out at Meadow Lane and got the game underway attacking the Meadow Street end in the first half with the travelling support doing their best to get under the cover of the terrace.
Bates cleared a Dale, in white and black stripes, corner with a hefty boot on 3 and Enoru chased the clearance but he was beaten to it by Gordon and from Whatmuff’s long ball downfield Odebayo-Rowling sent in two crosses, the second of which was put behind by Rye for another flagkick which Singh took at height.
From the keeper’s ball out Ponticelli tried to go through the back of the Rochdale defence but was tripped by Gilmour who was booked for his efforts however Duku’s freekick was blocked by the wall.
A strong run by Donkor down the right forced a corner on 7 and Maher’s ball in fell just between Rye and Duku and Rochdale were able to clear their lines.
The visitors tried to pen The Lambs back for the next ten or so minutes, without any real bite, and a push on Duku on the halfway line on 19 allowed Milnes to work the ball to Ponticelli who crossed from the right for Duku at the back of the box but he was unable to get his off the floor header on target.
Rye slid in to prevent a Rochdale chance and conceded a corner in the process on 23 which came out to Barlow and he struck low from the left channel, wide of the left and upright.
The first on target chance of the game came on 27 but it was a low slow rolling effort from Dieseruvwe, on the turn, which was simple for Singh to gather and he wasn’t troubled by a high and wide effort from distance from Pettit on 30.
The Lambs nearly fell behind on 33 when Singh was called into action to expertly claw a downward far post header from Dieseruvwe off the line and away from dropping past him.
There was a brief stop in play on 34 when Cockerill-Mollett was caught by the ball in the head and needed time to recover and the Rochdale boss was booked for comments from the bench before play resumed.
The Lambs thought that they had done enough to the danger when Rochdale played the ball in the area and despite Singh’s best efforts to keep Gordon’s header from crossing the line it did, although there were calls for offside in the build up which went unheard. (0-1, 41 mins)
It was almost two on 43 when Allarakhia got past Donkor on the left of the box but fired wide via a deflection for a corner which was met by Ebanks-Landell and bounced straight into Singh’s grasp and at the other end, as three minutes added time was shown, Ponticelli overhead kicked a Milnes header on target, but Whatmuff was equal to it.

HT: 0-1
 
With the weather no different but with the floodlights now on, the visitors restarted the game, and a cross from Gordon was headed away by Digie no 47 in the early exchanges.
Cockerill-Molllett found himself in space on the edge of the box when a defensive header dropped to him on 50 and he struck it first time but his effort curled harmlessly up and over and away from the target.
Dale forced another corner on the right on 54 which Digie headed out from under the bar and on the hour McBride fired low from the right edge of the D past the left hand upright without troubling the Lambs keeper.
Ponticelli and Maher combined to forge an opening on 61 with a corner resulting from the latter’s cross, and before the flagkick could be taken Creaney and Roberts came on for Duku and Enoru. Cockerill-Mollett got his head to the ball at the back post and looped it back into the area but Rochdale cleared their lines. However it fell ide to Cockerill-Mollett who whipped in a cross which was just over the head of Creaney but good enough for Roberts to connect with, although it rose over the target from 6 yards out.
Next, a quickly taken snap shot from Allarakhia went up and over Singh’s cross bar on 66 after Gordon had found the head of Dieseruvwe and dropped to him at the far post, but the flag would have ruled out any ‘goal’ had he managed to get it on target.
On 69, a chipped ball into the back of the box by Allarakhia saw Cockerill-Mollett pull down Dieseruvwe for a penalty to the visitors and the same player slotted it home into the mid right of the goal with Singh diving the right way but unable to get his hands to it (0-2, 70 mins)
Rochdale made two changes before The Lambs restarted the game and they quickly reduced the arrears when Donkor took the ball down the right and slipped it into the box for Creaney to finish from close range with a deft touch past Whatmuff (1-2, 74 mins)
Tonks got his first chance of a long throw on 80, sending it in from the Main Stand side of the ground and Roberts picked up the scraps but his shot through the defensive legs was cleared enroute to goal.
Another, similarly positioned, Tonks throw on 81 fell to Roberts again but a defensive boot blocked any chance of a goalbound shot and Rochdale countered with Beckwith picking his spot from 18 yards only to find Singh positioned to catch it at head height.
The Lambs continued to press the Dale side, and Donkor’s teasing cross on 85 was dropped by Whatmuff and fell to Creaney with his back to go, but he managed to turn and get a shot away but it drifted agonisingly wide of the far post.
Singh reacted well to a Adebayo-Rowling cross which skipped under the boot of Dieseruwve and at the other end Tonks connected well enough but it deflected out for a corner, and from the flagkick Bates did similarly. The second corner fell to Maher but his shot span off his boot away from the target.
Five minutes added time was shown at the end of the second half and a foul on the edge of the Lambs box set up the visitors with a freekick which they were made to work out and back into the final third.
Tonks picked up a yellow card for disagreeing with the referee on 90+3 and Dieseruwve was booked for a foul on Maher which allowed The Lambs to send the ball forwards but Creaney was unable to cushion his shot on target.
Whatmuff was booked for time wasting, but there was not enough time remaining for any further action and final whistle blew.

Tamworth
Singh; Donkor, Digie, Rye, Cockerill-Mollett (Curley 74); Bates, Milnes (Tonks 74); Maher, Ponticelli (Lynch 83), Enoru (Roberts 62); Duku (Creaney 62)
Subs: Hollis, Mols
YC: Cockerill-Mollett 69, Tonks 90+3
RC: (none)

Rochdale
Whattmuff, Gordon, Ebanks-Landell, Allarakhia (Moss 71), Gilmour, Dieseruvwe, Adebayo-Rowling,, Petit, Barlow (East 71), McBride (Amantchi 82), Beckwith
Subs: Pritchard, Burger, Humbles, Henderson
YC: Gilmour 5, Whatmuff 90+5
RC: (none)

Referee: Mr. Dale Baines
Assistants: Mr. Zahr Mustafa, Mr. Kevin Morris
Fourth Official: Mr. Samuel Bragg
Attendance: 1067 (365 away)

Man of the Match - Chosen by: Laguna Properties: Joe Rye