Ollie Rathbone marks Rochdale return with a goal as the Dale secure a vital win against Lincoln

Having won just once before Saturday’s trip to the LNER Stadium this calendar year, Rochdale went to Lincoln City bottom of the league, having not scored in over a month. What didn’t help either was the fact that their hosts had the opportunity to climb into the League One automatic promotion places with a win.

However, the Dale recorded a massively deserved victory in Lincolnshire as Stephen Humphrys scored the winner with an impressive finish off of the post 16 minutes from time.

Lincoln’s Manchester City-loanee Morgan Rogers had equalised with a fantastic goal in the second half, but the first goal of the afternoon came from the impressive Ollie Rathbone, who returned from suspension.

The 24-year-old produced an exquisite low shot into the back of the net after beating a handful of the Lincoln defence, Rochdale’s first goal in over 700 minutes of football.

Rathbone’s opener was deserved too. From the first minute of the contest until the last the visitors looked the more confident side; perhaps the pressure of returning to the top-two got to City. The Greater Manchester club forced numerous corners in the opening exchanges and kept Imps ‘keeper Aaron Palmer alert.

Having worked so hard in the first-half, Rochdale started the second period from where they left off, and were unlucky to conceded against the run of play as Rogers demonstrated impressive individual quality. Brian Barry-Murphy’s side didn’t roll over though, they shrugged off Lincoln’s equaliser and seeked a new lead, discovered by Humphrys.

It wasn’t just the goal though that made Rathbone’s performance impressive, but the Englishman’s workrate on and off the ball was key to Rochdale’s impressive display.

Returning to the side after a three-game ban as a consequence of the red card received in a 2-0 defeat to Burton last month, the midfielder sat rather deep; just in front of the defence. The 24-year-old didn’t shy away from the odd challenge or interception and was keen to act as the springboard for any Rochdale romps forward.

Ultimately, that’s where the goal came from, as the midfielder picked up the ball outside of the area and took aim from 20-yards out.

The 24-year-old’s importance to the side was clear to see as they climbed up to 22nd-place, just two points off of safety. However, the midfielder has been a kingpin for a number of seasons now.

Having signed on a free transfer in summer 2016 after leaving the youth set up at Manchester United, Rathbone went on to make 27 League One appearances in his debut professional season as the Dale finished ninth. 138 appearances later and the midfielder has certainly shown his value whilst still having the majority of his career ahead of him.

However, given his deep-lying position, goals scored by Ollie Rathbone are certainly for the archive as they don’t happen too often. The goal against Lincoln was just his second of the campaign, whilst he’s only scored more than twice in one season once, six during the 2018/19 season.

At 24 years of age, the midfielder has plenty of football left to play, but his short-term goals will certainly revolve around making sure he’s playing for a League One outfit come May as Rochdale battle for survival in the third tier.