Ian Watson’s men ended the first half strongly and hit the woodwork through Baba Adeeko, before they showed great resilience after the break to keep a threatening Walsall at bay.
Head Coach Watson made two changes from last weekend’s game against Gillingham, with Harvey Gilmour returning to the starting line-up and Aden Flint making his debut after joining on Friday. There was also welcome news on the substitute’s bench, with Laurence Maguire and Cian Hayes returning to the fold from injury.
Both sides exchanged flashes of attacking intent early on, with Luke Hannant seeing a lot of the ball on the right side.
The hosts had a spell midway through the half where they tested Nils Ramming, with Tai Sodje’s low shot being held and Mason Hancock testing the Dale stopper from inside the area, as Kaiden Wilson defended superbly to stop a follow-up from Aaron Pressley.
Dale began to assert themselves on the game as the clock ticked past the half-hour mark. Baba Adeeko’s curling effort with the outside of his boot cannoned back off the face of the crossbar, before the midfielder had a second shot deflected wide and sent a third over, all in quick succession.
Dajaune Brown was proving a threat in the middle, benefitting from Dale’s effective mid-block which was able to win the ball back in midfield on numerous occasions.
The on-loan forward’s effort from the edge of the area was denied by a fine low save from Jed Ward, before dragging another effort from a similar position wide.
New signing Flint was proving a threat at set pieces, nodding one down to Brown, whose hooked effort was held, before the centre-half headed another wide at the back post.
Dale had to dig deep for the majority of the second half, as the hosts saw the majority of possession.
Ramming made a save to his right from Hancock, with a follow-up header seemingly destined for the bottom corner, before the intervention of Dan Moss with a goal-line clearance.
Charlie Crew, Aaron Pressley and Sven Sprangler all sent efforts off target for the Saddlers, before Sodje had a shot on the turn held by Ramming.
Gilmour, Moss and Charlie Tasker all put in brave blocks on well-struck efforts, whilst substitute Courtney Clarke had an effort held by Dale’s on-loan goalkeeper.
Ramming was called upon in added time when Lewis Simper’s acrobatic effort was hit straight at him, before the Walsall man headed over with the action of the game, as Dale held on for a point on the road.
Walsall XI | Ward, Hancock, Connolly ©, Sprangler, Sodje (82’ Dallas), Crew (61’ Moore), Smith, Evans (61’ Clarke), Pressley, Ahui (89’ Simper), Skura.
Unused subs | Wooster, Burke, Furlong.
Dale XI | Ramming, Tasker, Wilson, Gilmour, Dieseruvwe © (84’ Adebayo-Rowling), Adeeko, Hannant (65’ Middleton), Taylor (74’ Smith), Moss (84’ Maguire), Brown, Flint.
Unused subs | Waller, Hayes, Henderson.
