Rochdale 1 Blackpool 0

Att. 4,186

Scorer: Jones 79

ONCE again Pool were punished for not turning pressure into goals and came home from Spotland without a point.

It cannot be said they performed badly, as they dominated for much of the game but they were let down by poor crossing and missed chances.

Phil Barnes returned to the Seasiders goal, replacing an injured Jon Kennedy and Rochdale included a familiar face in the form of ex-Seasider Tony Ellis in the Dale attack.

After a slow start Pool created a few half chances, the best coming to Paul Simpson on six minutes.

But he couldn't recreate the magic of last week and saw his free kick comfortably saved by the Rochdale keeper Neil Edwards.

Before that Tony Ellis tried his luck with an early shot on goal but Barnes easily saved.

The ball was in the net for Rochdale when defender Mark Monington headed past Barnes from a cross from the left but the goal was disallowed for a foul on Brian Reid. Minutes after Pool could easily have taken the lead themselves when a cross from the right by Steve Bushell was won by top-goal scorer John Murphy in the box. And when the ball dropped to Simpson you would have bet him to smash the ball into the net but his guided chip was just over the bar.

In the run up to half time it was obvious Rochdale's danger man was going to be midfielder Paul Ware who looked deadly with four long-range efforts on goal and it only looked a matter of time before one of them went flying into Barnes top corner.

Thankfully for Pool, the half time whistle came before that and gave Steve McMahon the chance to regroup.

His words of wisdom seemed to have a positive affect and Pool were in the ascendancy with three early chances.

The assault came mainly from the left where Coid and Hills planted crosses into the danger area but failed to find Murphy and Ormerod.

Around the hour mark, it should have been 1-0 to Blackpool when Brett Ormerod failed to finish the chance of the match. After picking the ball up 40 yards out, Ormerod skipped past Mark Monington and should have done better when he slid the ball wide of the post with the keeper to beat. Both sides looked to find the opening goal as the game came to a close. Paul Simpson had a good chance with another free kick, which went just wide. In the opposite half Rochdale's Blackpool born substitute Graham Lancashire breathed new life into his side and created a few half chances.

Eventually the breakthrough was made by Rochdale on 79 minutes. Midfielder Mark Ford delivered a perfect cross toward the penalty spot for Gary Jones to rise and head past Barnes.

After hanging on for so long, the question now was whether Pool could create a goal of their own in the remaining ten minutes and steal a point.

But unfortunately they didn't find an equaliser and a few half chances was as close as they got. In-form Rochdale carry on their impressive run and climb up the table whilst Pool drop back into the bottom half of the table and have it all to do to sustain a real promotion challenge.

Team: Barnes, Coid, Hills, O'Connor, Reid, Clarkson, Bushell, Simpson, Collins, Ormerod, Murphy. (No subs used)