We are on the road again and Charlton will be hosted by The Dale. Addicks fans make the 244-mile journey up north from The Valley and with Rochdale having a very poor home form with just one win in the league at The Spotland this season, that is surely something for them to worry about and something for us to capitalise on.
Since our first game against each other in 1947 which ended 3-1 to Charlton in the FA Cup (which was the season we won the cup if I may add) we have competed for just 16 matches, not that many compared to most in this league. However, Charlton have come out the victors in 9 of those matches with 3 draws and 4 loses to our name. our highest scoring victory against The Dale came in 2005 also in the FA Cup which ended 4-1 with the goals coming from Bryan Hughes (2), Jonathan Fortune and Danny Murphy. The Rochdale goal came from a familiar name in the form of Grant Holt who is now taking on the pro wrestling circuit.
Let’s get some facts.
Founded – 1907
Nickname – The Dale
Ground – Spotland Stadium(10,249)
Manager – Keith Hill
Top scorer – Ian Henderson(9)
Rochdale have only been promoted three times in their history(1969, 2010, 2014) since they were accepted into the football league in 1921, they have never gone past the third tier. Their current manager Keith Hill has managed over 550 games in 2 spells for Rochdale. Midfielder Joe Thompson has bravely defeated cancer twice so huge respect to him!
In team news, we start with Rochdale as they search for their second home win of the season. Andy Cannon, Brad Inman, Kgosi Nthlhe and Aaron Wilbraham could start whilst goalkeeper Magnus Norman is back after a three-match ban but was not picked for Tuesday’s Wycombe visit.
With Charlton Bielik and Vetokele are fit to play. Bielik had a cramp last week in our 2-0 win against Barnsley. Patrick Bauer has now removed his leg brace so his recovery is getting closer. Lewis Page is still out so Solly will replace him at Left-back once again as Darren Pratley plays out of position once more in centre back.
For my prediction I think we should absolutely smash Rochdale, their home form is very poor losing 5 at home already this season I think a 3-0 to Charlton is on the cards, but we do have a habit of slipping up against weaker sides as we lost here on the final day of last season 1-0.
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