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Prize money of virtually £10k is up for grabs here, or ‘a Druce’ as it’s known locally.
Unsurprisingly, the visitors bring a squad peppered with players with slightly more impressive backgrounds than most of the National League North stalwarts who usually make the pilgrimage to Edgar Street on a Saturday.
Club captain Ethan Ebanks-Landell has 100 League One appearances under his belt, but I’m not sure they count as they were in the service of the Sloppies.
Midfielder Adam Clayton joined Dale in the summer from Bradford. He was once the subject of a million-pound move from Huddersfield to Middlesborough, for whom he featured in the Premier League. He hasn’t managed too many games over the last few seasons though – maybe his knees aren’t what they were.
Club ledge Ian Henderson has scored well over 100 goals for the club across two spells, but is now 38 so again one immediately thinks ‘knees’. However, five goals in 14 games this season suggest his knees and every other bit of him are still in fine fettle.
Good players aplenty then, but in the credit column for the Bulls Dale travel without two key squad members.
Striker Kairo Mitchell has gone one better than Henderson with six goals so far, three of which have come in the last four games. He’s a player who has in the past persuaded both Chesterfield and Notts County to pay hard cash for his services. He didn’t really get going at either club, but his move to Dale in the summer seems to have rejuvenated him. In fact, it’s rejuvenated him to such an extent that he’s now a full international and will miss this one as he’s playing for Greneda against Jamaica, coincidentally two places that would conjure a similar degree of exoticism in people’s minds as Hereford and Rochdale.
Also missing will be talented young defender George Nevett who is otherwise engaged with Wales u19s. I don’t know who they’re playing but it’s unlikely to be exotic – the Isle of Man or something I expect.
Whilst the tie may attract a decent number of home fans, it seems that this alien business of having to qualify to get into the first round proper is too tinpot for some from up north. No supporters’ coach has been laid on by Rochdale for this one, and I’m going to stick my neck out and suggest that’s not because they’ve needed a supporters’ train instead to accommodate the hordes from Greater Manchester.
Jimmy McNulty, like Paul Caddis, is a young manager finding his way on the other side of the touchline, having been with Dale as a player for almost a decade. He was appointed too late last season to be able to do anything about avoiding relegation from the Football League, and the club dropped through the trapdoor after 102 years spent almost exclusively narrowly avoiding dropping through the trapdoor.
The club has stabilised following the shock of relegation, and are only two points shy of the play-off positions. They’ve lost as many as they’ve won though, but given the fact that last season’s promotees from the National League North, Fylde and Kidderminster, currently prop up the rest in the higher division it suggests that it’s quite hard, and that there’s something of a gulf in quality and resources between the divisions. That said, little Dorking are doing fine so perhaps you just have to be well run.
Last weekend Dale scraped a draw at struggling Maidenhead with a late equaliser.
The hosts look to be finding their feet after a bit of a stuttering start to the season. An excellent draw at South Shields last weekend sees them unbeaten in four with four clean sheets, and just one loss in six, with that last result in the northeast giving cause for arguably more optimism than the wins against lower-graded opponents in the Cup. Given the virtually completely fresh start made by the club in the summer coupled with the loss to injury of the two main strikers, that uncertain start was entirely understandable, and the foundations are being laid now for perhaps a first top-half finish in the National League North, and maybe something even more exciting than that like…finishing above Alfreton.
Kyle Howkins continues to get through games, although he’s increasingly combining 90 minutes of football with a full set of stretching exercises when the ball’s not near him, which could become some sort of endurance combo-sport in its own right.
Similarly, the gamble on Jordan Lyden is so far paying off, and the ex-Villa playmaker is picking up fitness with every game to complement his in-the-wrong-division talent.
Finally, “What’s Rochdale’s record like at Edgar Street?” I hear you ask. Won three in 23. Bring it on.
COYW