Saturday, October 02, 2010

DALE MIGHT NOT BE SO COMFORTABLE TODAY .........



EXETER CITY- ROCHDALE

City are returning to their home ground, where they remain unbeaten, after three consecutive away starts, things ran away from them at Bournemouth in midweek, but they remain very upbeat after collecting four points from the other two games and I simply think that was one match on the road too many. They have not had a great deal of luck recently and draws at Dagenham, where they led for well over an hour and at home to highflying Peterborough, could easily have seen another four points in the bag, which would put them second in the table. Boss Paul Tisdale ( anyone that wears a cravat to a football game outside of Italy has to be of strong character !) told BBC Radio Devon that spirits remain very high and that he feels the team have benefitted from a couple of free days this week, he has Nardiello and O'Flynn back today, which doubles his impressive offensive options and City are a side with goals in them, with the five registered strikers having some 600 career goals between them, most at a higher level . They play a very aggressive yet attractive, high tempo style at St James Park, where visiting sides are given very little peace or time on the ball, they have high levels of fitness, one of the few who can match Rochdale in this aspect and create a lot of pressure in the final 15-20 minutes of games. City are unbeaten here and Dale likewise on the road, however, having seen the visitors at Southampton and extended highlights of their midweek win over Huddersfield Town, I feel that they match up better against the more cultured footballing teams and less well with those that adapt a more in your face approach. Exeter are a combination of the two styles and I take them to beat a Rochdale side who did a lot of work against Town in what was a flattering 3-0 scoreline and who will not relish returning to a venue where they have a dire record. Looking at chances created, Dale have only managed more than Tranmere and on the road seem happy to sit back and let the opponents make the running, looking for a goal on the break, I do not see this approach working against a City side who can match their work rate.

Exeter -0.25 1.99

Good Luck.

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