Archived News from December 2003
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STAGSNET`S STATISTICAL PREVIEW
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Of the current Nationwide Football league sides, Rochdale is the one that have faced the Stags on most occasions. No wonder of that, as “Dale” played the Stags in all their division 3 (N) seasons, in all bar two of Rochdale's seasons in the old third division – in fact both teams were founder members of that division in 1958-59, when Rochdale was the first side to finish bottom of that league – and all but two of the Stags' seasons in the old fourth, finally all the seasons the Stags have played in the current third division. In fact, Rochdale have been stuck in the basement since the Stags first championship season in 1974-75.
Not only have the Stags faced Rochdale on a final day of a promotion season – May 2, 1992, when a 2-1 win and a Blackpool defeat 34 miles away at Lincoln clinched it – but also on a promotion season opening day. This happened in 1962-63, when the commencing game was at home to Rochdale on August 18, 1962 , in front of 6121 who saw Ken Wagstaff clinch the points by the only goal of the game. On 40 occasions have Mansfield and Rochdale crossed their league swords, and the first encounters took place in 1932-33 – and in fact the Stags won five ALL the pre-world-war-II Field Mill encounters to a score of 19-3. On October 12, 1932, Readman, Prior (2), and Bowater netted for the Stags in front of 4441. Worse was to follow on February 24, 1934, with a 5-0 stuffing thanks to two goals apiece from Johnson and Bytheway, also one from Munnings. In the Harston record-breaking season, 1936-37, he almost single-footed routed “Dale” with five of the six stags goals, Atkinson getting the other in front of 7404 on September 9, 1936. Memorable post-world-war II fixtures: - On March 24, 1956, a crowd of 8563 watched Rochdale suffer their highest of the up-to-date 25 reverses at Field Mill when three goals from Murray, one apiece from Jepson, Darwin and Mitten set up a tennis set score, in fact the second consecutive 6-0 win at Field Mill that season, as Tranmere had been mauled by the same scoreline a fortnight earlier - The low-scoring 1984-85 season's home fixtures opened with a bang as the Stags routed Rochdale 5-1 in front of 2627, who saw Caldwell net twice, Vinter, Kearney and Lowery get on the scoresheet once - The teams fought against each other for promotion in 2001-02. On February 2, 2002, a good crowd of 4876 watched Greenacre net twice and Pemberton once in the 3-1 home win, a crucial one in the final reckoning. (In fact, Rochdale – like Cheltenham – drew more than double of the league games compared to the Stags and that contributed to Dale's 5th position – just one more win and Rochdale had overhauled the Stags in the 3rd position race). Since the 2001-02 season, Rochdale have failed to figure in the promotion and play-off race. Last season, they finished around mid-table. And this season, six consecutive league defeats between October 21 and November 29 seem to have put paid to Rochdale's playoffs chances. Some well-known names have managed Rochdale. Among them are Bob Stokoe – two spells, one before and one after Sunderland's FA Cup triumph in 1973 - , Harry Catterick (later for Everton, there succeeded by ex-Stag manager Billy Bingham), Jimmy Greenhoff and Eddie Gray. Current Rochdale manager is former Walsall top-scorer Alan Buckley. Another – maybe not so well-known - fact is that the Birmingham defence horror man of April 3, 1990, Steve Wilkinson, spent a loan spell without playing for Rochdale before signing for the Stags, but had a short loan spell at Crewe prior to putting on a Stags shirt for the first time. Played for both sides: Phillip Bartley, Simon Coleman, Thomas Dutton, Desmond Fawcett, Tony Ford, Neville Hamilton, Ged Keegan, Terence Melling, Kevin Pilkington, John Ryan, Paul Wheatcroft, Steve Whitehall, Doug Wragg Managed both sides: Steve Parkin. Home stats: P 40, W 25, D 9, L 6, GF 86, GA 40 Away stats: P 40, W 7, D 13, L 20, GF 41, GA 62 Season Home Date Away Date 1932-33 4-1 1932-12-10 1-2 1932-10-01 Div 3 (N) 1933-34 5-0 1934-02-24 3-2 1933-10-14 Div 3 (N) 1934-35 1-0 1935-02-23 0-1 1934-10-13 Div 3 (N) 1935-36 3-0 1935-11-09 1-3 1936-02-29 Div 3 (N) 1936-37 6-2 1936-09-09 3-1 1936-08-31 Div 3 (N) 1947-48 1-1 1947-10-18 2-1 1948-03-06 Div 3 (N) 1948-49 2-0 1949-04-30 0-1 1949-04-04 Div 3 (N) 1949-50 1-1 1950-01-28 1-7 1950-03-04 Div 3 (N) 1950-51 1-0 1951-04-16 0-0 1951-04-14 Div 3 (N) 1951-52 1-1 1951-09-17 0-1 1951-09-04 Div 3 (N) 1952-53 2-1 1952-12-13 0-1 1953-04-29 Div 3 (N) 1953-54 2-0 1954-02-20 0-1 1953-10-03 Div 3 (N) 1954-55 3-2 1955-03-26 0-2 1954-11-06 Div 3 (N) 1955-56 6-0 1956-03-24 1-1 1955-11-12 Div 3 (N) 1956-57 2-3 1956-08-20 0-0 1956-08-29 Div 3 (N) 1957-58 2-4 1957-08-24 0-3 1957-12-21 Div 3 (N) 1958-59 0-0 1959-03-30 2-2 1959-03-27 Div 3 (old) 1960-61 0-2 1960-08-22 2-1 1960-08-30 Div 4 (old) 1961-62 0-1 1961-12-26 2-3 1962-04-11 Div 4 (old) 1962-63 1-0 1962-08-18 1-3 1962-12-15 Div 4 (old) 1969-70 1-2 1969-11-03 1-2 1969-11-24 Div 3 (old) 1970-71 3-2 1970-10-03 1-1 1971-04-12 Div 3 (old) 1971-72 3-1 1972-03-18 1-2 1971-08-21 Div 3 (old) 1974-75 2-0 1974-08-30 1-0 1975-03-01 Div 4 (old) 1980-81 2-2 1981-04-04 4-1 1980-11-01 Div 4 (old) 1981-82 4-3 1981-11-14 1-1 1982-04-03 Div 4 (old) 1982-83 2-1 1982-09-25 2-2 1983-02-05 Div 4 (old) 1983-84 3-0 1983-11-01 0-0 1984-02-14 Div 4 (old) 1984-85 5-1 1984-09-01 1-2 1985-05-14 Div 4 (old) 1985-86 3-2 1985-11-30 1-1 1986-04-26 Div 4 (old) 1991-92 2-1 1992-05-02 2-0 1991-10-12 Div 4 (old) 1993-94 0-1 1994-04-16 1-1 1993-11-02 Div 3 1994-95 1-1 1995-03-07 3-3 1994-10-29 Div 3 1995-96 2-2 1996-04-16 1-1 1995-09-16 Div 3 1996-97 0-0 1996-08-31 1-0 1997-04-05 Div 3 1997-98 3-0 1998-01-03 0-2 1997-08-16 Div 3 1998-99 3-1 1999-03-13 0-1 1998-11-07 Div 3 1999-2000 0-0 2000-03-28 1-2 1999-11-14 Div 3 2000-01 1-0 2000-11-11 0-1 2001-04-28 Div 3 2001-02 3-1 2002-02-02 1-3 2001-09-29 Div 3 Svante Bernhard aka Sweden Stag (pictured, above right) Details from various sources (mainly Stags centenary book and some editions of Rothman's Football Yearbook). |
Latest | December 2003