Darlington 2, Rochdale 1

May 12 2008 by Stuart Rayner, The Journal

DAVID Stockdale helped set up a dream finish to his Darlington career but it could create a nightmare for chairman George Houghton.

Although nothing has been announced, Stockdale will join Premier League survivors Fulham on June 1.

And, despite a foot injury which required a pre-match injection and another at half-time, the 22-year-old wanted a last game at Neasham Road.

His leaving present to the Quakers fans was a save from Rene How four minutes into added time which preserved the semi-final first leg lead given to them by Ian Miller minutes earlier.

While Stockdale went some way to following future boss Roy Hodgson’s instructions, Houghton faces being stuck in the land football forgot on League Two play-off final day. If the Quakers make it to Wembley Houghton is not likely to be there after revealing: “I miss Wembley, if we get there, because I have to go to America to get a vein taken out of my leg. I’ve also got a bit of business in New York.’’

Stockdale, though, is following the instructions of his new boss Hodgson in getting to the national stadium.

“The first words he said to me were: ‘Make sure you get Darlo up this season’,” said the keeper of his initial encounter with the Fulham manager.

“My main job at the moment is to get Darlo into League One and we’re one step closer. It was so important for me to play. I didn’t want anyone to think I was backing out of a big game. I’m definite for next week.

“I hope we get through because then people can’t say I was thinking about Fulham. I went on a bit of a rampage after the winner and when we scored first I went up to the crowd because it’s emotional to leave after how well I’ve done. I want to give something back.”

Dave Penney’s substitutions worked but there could be problems ahead. Dale were dominating when Darlington’s players began succumbing to injury. Neil Wainwright was introduced on the right wing but switched to the left when Ben Parker’s hamstring forced a reshuffle. In injury time Wainwright tried to squeeze between Simon Ramsden and Gary Jones and was brought down by the latter. Miller, on for Alan White five minutes earlier, headed in his free-kick.

Defensive errors could have opened either side’s accounts, but instead the first goal was class. Chris Dagnall pounced when White dwelt on the ball, his shot striking Steve Foster, then the woodwork. A minute later Tommy Lee spared Nathan D’Layrea’s blushes, saving from Micky Cummins after the defender’s slip let in Rob Purdie.

The highlight was not Jason Kennedy’s curling goal but the touch which created it. Kennedy, following David Wheater on loan from Middlesbrough, plucked Parker’s pass from the air with a touch which took Rory McArdle out of the equation. When Dagnall’s deflected shot wrong-footed Stockdale with 20 minutes left, Darlington looked more likely winners.

Penney expects Parker, Tommy Wright and White to play on Saturday but the way all three hobbled around did not look promising. But Pawel Abbott could return having a week in an oxygen chamber to help his rehabilitation.

DARLINGTON: Stockdale; Wiseman, White (Miller 87), Foster, Parker (Ndumbu-Nsungu 79); Joachim, Kennedy, Ravenhill, Purdie; Cummins, Wright (Wainwright 64). Subs (not used): Keltie, Kazimierczak.

Goals: Kennedy 28, Miller 90+2.

ROCHDALE: Lee; Ramsden, D’Layrea (Holness 67), McArdle, Kennedy; Higginbotham, Perkins, Jones, Rundle (Muirhead 74); How, Dagnall (Le Fondre 82). Subs (not used): Thompson, Basham.

Goal: Dagnall 70.

Booked: Jones.

Referee: Paul Armstrong (Berkshire). Attendance: 8,057.