Colchester United host Rochdale A.F.C. on Saturday afternoon in the latest Sky Bet League Two action for interim Head Coach, Stave Ball’s side.
The U’s will be looking to bounce back after a 1-0 loss to Grimsby last weekend. The only goal came in the second half and was scored by Harry Clifton.
Looking towards Saturday’s game, it’s the U’s first match of Steve Ball’s interim period in charge. He faces a tough decision when it comes to picking a squad with lots of players jostling for positions.
The Opposition
It’s been a very difficult start to the season for Rochdale as it seems that they’re struggling to get things to click in this campaign, they’re coming into this game off of the back of a 3-0 loss away to Northampton Town in the league.
However, Rochdale managed to beat the Liverpool U21s in the Papa Johns Trophy, who’s squad included the likes of Arthur Melo and Fabio Carvalho. It was a dominant display from the Dale, firing off eighteen shots compared to Liverpool’s five, in the end it was Tahvon Campbell who scored the winner in the eighty-second minute.
Dale are currently sitting rock bottom of the Sky Bet League Two table; they have two points to their name after nine games and they’ve managed to accumulate a minus eleven goal difference, the joint worst in the league. A record of zero wins, two draws and seven losses is not what manager Jim Bentley wants to see.
Bentley took over as the Rochdale A.F.C. manager following the sacking of Robbie Stockdale after losing four games on the bounce in the opening games of the season.
Speaking after the loss at Northampton Jim Bentley admitted that he’s seen some frailties in the side.
“We are very disappointed. We’ve been in the building for three weeks and I’ve heaped praise on the players, we played the team at the top of the table in midweek and ran them very close and could have taken a point from them.
“But I’ve seen some frailties today that is not a reflection of how we have worked and how we want to work moving forward with the position we are in.
“I thought in the first half, certainly the first twenty-five minutes or so, we were on top.
“There wasn’t much else in the half for me, there wasn’t much in the game, and then they score a goal that was one of those where it could go out of the ground or fly into the top corner, and unfortunately for us it went in the top corner.
“That meant we were 1-0 down at half-time, which we didn’t deserve.
“In the second half we were poor, but I felt we were well in the game at 1-0 down against a team that are the top scorers in the league.”
One of the Dales bright sparks this season has been Devante Rodney (pictured above), so far this campaign he’s scored twice in nine games, almost half of the goals Rochdale have actually scored. He’s made all nine starts and has only been subbed off twice. His goals came from different areas too, with one being inside the box and the other being outside the box.
Last Time we Met
The last time the U’s took on Rochdale, the points were shared in a hard fought draw, with Conor Grant’s late equaliser cancelled out a wonder goal from Alan Judge. The U’s welcomed Rochdale to the JobServe on a cold Tuesday evening in February, the first half was a deadlock but Judge struck a thunderbolt volley from outside the box to open the scoring in the second half.
Ticket Info
Tickets are available to purchase from Col U Tickets - click HERE to get yours and support the U's against Rochdale A.F.C. Tickets are currently available at the ADVANCE rate - click HERE to see prices for the season.
Tickets will also be available to purchase on the day from the Club Shop, or online from Col U Tickets right up until kick off.
iFollow
If you can't make it to the game on Saturday afternoon, you can keep up with it via iFollow. Audio passes are available for £2.50 in the UK, with video passes also available for £10 in the UK with it being an international weekend. Click HERE to see what options are available for you.