Rochdale vs York City. 2nd vs 1st.
105 points vs 107 points. Winner takes all
The race for a return to the EFL comes to a head as the two sides face off at the Crown Oil Arena.
We begin with the home side. Rochdale were relegated from the EFL in 2023.
Whilst their first season post relegation wasn’t memorable, their second certainly was. The Dale would finish in 4th, securing a playoff place.
However, they would lose 4-3 to Southend United in an absolute classic of a quarter final.
As for this season the ever-reliable Emmanuel Dieseruvwe has found the net 25 times. Meanwhile, Oliver Whatmuff has arguably been the best goalkeeper in the division.
No wonder Rochdale have conceded the joint fewest goals in the league (40). Who are they joint with?
Their opponents
York City have been clamouring for a return to the football league for a full decade now and last year they came incredibly close. Adam Hinshelwood led his side to a 2nd place finish, accumulating 96 points.
As per the National League rules, this only meant a playoff spot. Despite finishing 23 points ahead of Oldham Athletic during the regular season, York would lose 3-0 at home to the Latics and were eliminated.
To the surprise of many, Hinshelwood was dismissed in August after only four games, despite not losing any of them.
Rochdale might have Dieseruvwe, but York have Ollie Pearce. The 30-year-old is the league’s top goalscorer with 34 goals to his name. But he hasn’t been the only one.
Josh Stones has 16 goals this season and Alex Newby has 12. York are unsurprisingly the league’s stop scorers, with a whopping 113 goals scored.
These two sides have already faced each other twice this season. Both times, York have prevailed.
In fact, they’ve won this fixture on the previous four occasions. Not to mention that in two of the last three meetings, they’ve scored 4 goals.
Given the fact that Rochdale have to win to secure the title, this will not do much for their confidence.
As you can imagine, both sides have been in phenomenal form this season. Rochdale have only tasted defeat in six league games and York only four.
Between November 15th and March 14th, the Dale only lost one league game. Since then, however, their form has began to wain slightly.
Their last eight games have seen four wins, two draws and two loses. As for the visitors, they have been on a warpath as of late, winning 17 of their last 19.
Both sides are terrific and the match surely will be as well, but it’s very difficult to look past York. They have the defence, the attack, the form, the wins in previous meetings and the points gap.
Rochdale need to win. For York, a draw will be enough.
Jimmy McNulty will be hoping that home advantage will be enough for his team to leapfrog their opponents and clinch the title.
