Scunthorpe United and Rochdale were unable to be separated at Glanford Park with the two sides playing out a 1-1 draw in Sky Bet League One.
A superb long range effort from Callum Camps gave Rochdale a first half lead but Ivan Toney levelled matters for the home side with a header early in the second half.
It was the visitors who were by far the better side in the first half. Scunthorpe United did have the first chance of the match but Josh Morris scuffed his shot wide across goal via a deflection while teammate Funso Ojo fired off target from the resulting corner kick.
Rochdale soon settled into the game and Bradden Inman sent warnings to the home side with two ambitious shots which went wide.
Keith Hill’s men took the lead in the 20th minute when a corner kick found its way to Camps who rifled the ball into the net through a forest of players from 25 yards out.
The Iron showed very little in response and could even have been 2-0 down going into the half time interval had Rochdale’s Oliver Rathbone not wasted a golden opportunity to score six minutes before the break. At the other end, Dale keeper Josh Lillis was largely a spectator during the first 45 minutes and the home side were quite rightly booed off the pitch when the half time whistle sounded.
Scunthorpe United came out for the second half much more positively and Graham Alexander’s men levelled matters six minutes into the half when Tom Hopper kept the ball alive from a corner kick and Toney nodded in. Rochdale almost regained the lead immediately but both Ian Henderson and Inman could not beat home keeper Matt Gilks.
Toney was clearly hungry for more goals and only some desperate defending could prevent him from scoring a quick-fire second past Lillis before Cameron Burgess and Morris swung for the same ball as The Iron spurned an excellent opportunity to take the lead.
Both sides were keen to find a winner and the lively Duane Holmes went close with an effort from outside of the box after showing plenty of pace and trickery to create the chance for himself. It was then Rochdale’s turn with substitute Scott Wiseman forcing a superb reaction save from Gilks after meeting the ball first from a corner kick.
Scunthorpe United deserved nothing more than a point while visitors Rochdale’s performance warranted nothing less and a share of the spoils was probably fair as both sides failed to grab the maximum haul to help their respective end of season targets.
