THE TWO teams will have to do it all over again at Spotland as Clive Platt's early goal was cancelled out by Bristol substitute Bradley Allen.

Player-boss Paul Simpson was relatively satisfied with his team's performance apart from the poor defending that allowed Bristol back into the game.

"There is no point saying whether or not we are happy with a draw, we just have to take it and get on with it. I'm sure the directors will be happy because it gives them another gate and the chance to make some more money. We are still in the draw which is what we set out to be. We said that if we couldn't win we had to make sure that we didn't lose and at least we achieved that.

We knew it was going to be tough and that Bristol would have spells of pressure. For the most part we coped and defended well but I am disappointed with their goal. We had two or three chances to clear the ball and didn't manage it."

With so many absentees, Simpson had to shuffle his pack and the surprise was a floating role given to striker Clive Platt.

Early lead

The big man gave Rochdale an early lead when after good build up involving Dave Flitcroft, Lee Duffy and Paul Connor he raced through to score his third goal in as many visits to the Memorial Ground in the last twelve months.

Rochdale nearly doubled their lead two minutes later with a flowing move down the left that saw Lee McEvilly's header go narrowly wide.

Rochdale, with Flitcroft and Gavin Melaugh tackling feverishly, had a firm grip on the midfield battle and started the brighter in the second half with Paul Connor shooting wide and Lee McEvilly producing mazey run that was brought to an end when he was fouled just outside the box.

What turned out to be the turning point of the game was substitution just after the hour of the home side's leading scorer, Giuliano Grazioli, as he was replaced by the much travelled Bradley Allen who was making his home debut.

The introduction of Allen sparked the home side's best spell and he brought them level on 73 minutes.

Not for the first time this season, the Rochdale defence made a complete hash of dealing with a right wing cross and Allen had the simplest of opportunities to ram the ball home from close range.

Allen had two further chances in the latter stages, one with a flicked header and one with a shot on the turn, both of which went wide.

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