Top five Rochdale v Bury derbies: MM looks back at their most memorable battles

Friday’s televised match will be the 61^st post-war encounter between Bury and Rochdale, with the Shakers edging the head-to-heads with 25 wins to Dale’s 16 and the sides have drawn 19 times.

Hosts Bury will look to bounce back after a disappointing 2-1 defeat away to Cheltenham Town last weekend which left them battling in 17^th place on 39 points.

Conversely, their visitors head to the JD Stadium sitting in 3^rd place, unbeaten in their last five league games, having taken 13 points from a possible 15 with four wins and a draw.

The last encounter between the two sides ended in a 1-0 victory to Rochdale at the beginning of September with the crucial goal coming from Scott Hogan.

When searching for classic derby matches, MM did not have to delve too far into the archives to find some eventful clashes between the two clubs.

Bury claimed local bragging rights over neighbours with a 2-1 success at Gigg Lane and leapfrogged their rivals into the top three.

Elliott Bennett netted a scrappy opener in the 19th minute and Mike Jones’ classy second with six minutes remaining ensured Will Buckley’s injury-time effort for Dale was just a consolation.

The Shakers then took the lead following a defensive error, with a short backpass allowing Bennett to nip in and block Frank Fielding’s clearance and send the ball looping into the empty net.

Andy Morrell then missed a gilt-edged opportunity shortly after the restart, playing a neat one-two with Andy Bishop inside the box before side-footing over from seven yards with the goal at his mercy.

Dale piled on the pressure as they attacked the away end in the second half and Adam Le Fondre headed over from Adam Rundle’s corner before Mark Tyler saved a 25-yard strike by Buckley.

Efe Sodje then made an important block to deny Le Fondre before Jones sealed the three points, playing a one-two with Bishop before beating Fielding from 12 yards.

Bury also ended the season with complete bragging rights as they finished 4^th in League Two during the 2008/09 season on 78 points two places above Rochdale on a total of 70.

However both were disappointed after being beaten in the play-offs.

The Shakers drew 1-1 with Shrewsbury in the playoff semi-finals over two legs but ultimately lost 5-3 on penalties and Dale lost 2-1 on aggregate to Gillingham.

A thrilling and entertaining game ended in controversy deep into time added on following referee Darren Drysdale’s decision to award Bury their second spot-kick and dismiss Rochdale’s Jon Boardman. 

Rochdale were much the better side throughout and in the second half in particular laid siege to the Bury goal, but with defenders John Fitzgerald and Paul Scott outstanding, the away side held on to extend their recent unbeaten run. 

The Dale started much the brighter and took the lead on 11 minutes when leading scorer Chris Dagnall exchanged passes with Keith Barker before firing home his eighth goal of the season from 12 yards. 

The Shaker response was almost immediate when in a crowd of player’s defender Fitzgerald swept home a Tom Kennedy corner. 

Bury added a second on 28 minutes when, following a foul by Cooksey on Dwayne Mattis, Bishop rolled home a penalty. 

In the second half the home side laid siege to the Bury goal with chances coming and going. 

The best of them saw giant Frenchman Sako’s header from a Gary Brown cross rattle the crossbar. 

An already heated affair moved up into an even higher when deep into time added on, with the home side committing men forward, Bury broke through Mattis and Boardman was adjudged to have fouled him.

The Dale player was shown the red-card and Bishop calmly rolled home his second spot-kick to wrap up the points.

Rochdale managed to get their own back however as in the reverse fixture they came away with a 1-0 victory on April 7 2007 and finished in a respectable 9^th place in League Two while Bury finished 21^stin the league only four points clear of the relegation zone on a total of 50.

John Coleman’s first game in charge of Dale saw the home side put Richie Barker’s Bury to the sword in front of a crowd of 5,033 at Spotland.

Buoyed by the arrival of their new manager the home side nearly took the lead in first minute when Dale skipper Gary Jones forced Bury goalkeeper Cameron Belford in the first minute.

But when Jones unleashed another shot after 15 minutes Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro (now on at Bury from Tranmere) was on hand to poke in the rebound after Belford again saved.

The second came four minutes before half-time after a sweeping counter-attack started by Brian Barry-Murphy culminated in Ashley Grimes converting another rebound after Belford, had again saved this time from current Dale loanee Jason Kennedy.

Grimes was at it again ten minutes into the second half, powering a header into the roof of the Bury net after he getting on the end of a near-post cross from Nicky Adams.

Unfortunately for Coleman his reign did not continue as it started and he won just 13 more games out of 51 and was sacked in January 2013.  

Despite suffering two derby defeats in the 2011/2012 season the Shakers had the last laugh finishing in a comfortable 14^th place in League One while Rochdale finished bottom of the league, amassing just 38 points from their 46 games.

Dale defender Phil Edwards had a night to forget when he first gave away the penalty that led to Bury’s equaliser and then missed the only penalty in the shoot-out, in this Johnstone’s Paint Trophy second round clash.

Dale went in front on 18 minutes when Ashley Grimes once again showed his penchant for scoring in this fixture by curling an effort past Shakers goalkeeper Trevor Carson.

Steven Schumacher helped accelerate a Bury revival equalising on 52 minutes when he converted the rebound after his initial penalty was saved by Ben Smith in the Dale goal.

The penalty had been awarded after Edwards was adjudged to have handballed an Adam Lockwood shot.

Ten minutes from full time Rochdale’s Craig Curran was sent off for a studs up challenge Carson, but ten-man Dale hung on to take the game to penalties.

Schumacher, Matt Doherty, Mark Cullen and Andy Bishop were all spot on for Bury, but it was Carson who was the hero saving Edwards’ penalty.

Lockwood held his nerve from the spot to send Kevin Blackwell’s side through inflicting penalty shoot-out heartbreak on their rivals and going someway to avenging the league double they suffered at the hands of Dale the previous season.

It remains the only ever penalty shoot-out between the two sides and was watched by 2,826 at Spotland.

Dale travelled to Gigg Lane still searching for a first league win under new manager Steve Eyre. Six goals, one red card and 95 minutes later, they had it.

The away side had been humbled 4-2 at Stevenage the previous week and the travelling Dale fans, who made up a crowd of 4,897, were pinching themselves when their side stunned Bury to go 3-0 up inside 18 minutes.

It took just four minutes for the visitors to open the scoring when Ashley Grimes headed in a cross from Andrew Tutte, both of whom now play for Bury.

Five minutes later Marcus Holness leapt highest to head home a Joe Widdowson corner and Dale were in dreamland just past the quarter hour when Nicky Adams fired in from 15 yards.

Adams was booked for removing his shirt after scoring, something he would go on to regret.

Mike Jones drove a shot from outside the box past Dale goalkeeper Jake Kean, who was on-loan from Blackburn Rovers, to put Bury back in contention to cap a crazy opening 20 minutes to the match.

But any hopes of a Bury fight-back were extinguished by another loanee, David Ball- his parent club being Peterborough United- who thumped a shot into the top left hand corner just two minutes into the second half.

The Shakers did pull another one back just after the hour with Jones turning provider, to play in Andy Bishop inside the box who slotted past Kean.

The game ended 4-2 but not before Adams received his marching orders following a second booking for a foul on Joe Skarz.

Steve Eyre must have harboured hopes of a winning run after this victory. Alas it did not materialise, he won just three out of his next 18 matches in charge and was sacked in December 2011.