Rochdale 3 Shrewsbury Town 1 - Report and pictures

Shrewsbury sit third in League One despite taking an early lead through Nathan Thomas inside 10 minutes.

But a lengthy injury to Toto Nsiala meant 11 minutes of added time, in which Dale levelled with the final kick.

Sub Steven Davies netted 10 minutes from 10 to give the struggling hosts the lead but the real drama unfolded in added time.

Referee Richard Clark awarded Paul Hurst’s men a 94th minute penalty after Jon Nolan fell under pressure only for his assistant to overrule the decision. Dale broke from a resulting corner and with Dean Henderson stranded home skipper Ian Henderson slotted in with the final kick on the break.

Town were relieved to welcome Ben Godfrey back into the starting XI after the midfielder had missed games against Northampton and AFC Wimbledon with a hamstring injury.

Godfrey came into a 4-2-3-1 set-up that was missing the suspended Abu Ogogo and Bryn Morris.

There were two further surprises in Hurst's team selection as Thomas and Arthur Gnahoua were in for the absent Alex Rodman and the benched Stefan Payne.

It was attacker Gnahoua's first league start - or League One minutes of any kind - since New Year’s Day, while just January loanee Thomas' third league start.

James Bolton, who has missed more than a month with an ankle injury sustained at Charlton, was included on the bench.

An indifferent first five minutes saw little early intensity from the home side, without a Spotland league win since November 25.

Keith Hill’s side, that featured former Town loanee Stephen Humphrys in attack, went into the clash second-bottom but despite an attacking line-up on paper, did not impose themselves on the visitors early on.

Thomas’ moment came seven minutes in. Omar Beckles sent the ball forward from left-back and the Sheffield United loan man turned his defender on halfway and charged towards the Dale box.

Players in blue home shirts looked terrified to approach the flying winger who, upon entering the box, lashed the ball left-footed low into goalkeeper Josh Lillis’ far corner. Lillis’ outstretched hand could do nothing to stop it arrowing into the bottom corner.

It was the winger’s second Town goal after he struck the winner at Fleetwood in February.

But Shrewsbury looked comfortable until a 14th minute innocuous incident that left Toto Nsiala on his back not far from where the significant away following was housed.

The collision was with former team-mate Humphrys and there was immediate concern as physio Chris Skitt hared on to the pitch.

The popular Town defender was down for more than 10 minutes with doctors, ambulance staff and a stretcher sent for Nsiala, who was carried off in a neck brace. The defender had previously been the only Shrews man to not miss a minute of league action this season.

Early indications were a fractured cheekbone for the defender. Town sent on Max Lowe at left-back with Beckles switching into the centre.

Eleven minutes were added on after Nsiala’s treatment. A couple of decent set-pieces from either side flew narrowly off the desired target before the visitors were dealt a succerpunch 57 minutes into an extended first half.

Midfielder Rathbone was offered far too much room centrally 30 yards from goal. He burst forward into the empty space and fired low into Henderson’s bottom right corner. The goalkeeper reacted slowly and might have felt he should have got down to the corner.

Dale started quicker in a crucial second period.

Big Calvin Andrew then sent a diving header wide from a poorly marked Rochdale corner.

Morris clipped the crossbar for Town as Andrew was again off target in an open, end-to-end game with little technical flow.

Town’s boss rolled the dice and sent on Stefan Payne for scorer Thomas and Bolton returned to the fold for Luke Hendrie.

Top scorer Payne’s first touch was to spin and help over the top after Lowe had cut-back from the left byline.

Humphrys was kept out by Henderson before Rochdale’s second sub Davies, on for barely five minutes, completed the turnaround.

A floated free-kick is won by Andrew and, with his back to goal, Davies spins and lifts a cushioned volley over Henderson into the corner.

Jon Nolan had been quiet but almost salvaged his side in the seconds. The midfielder caught a 25 yard half-volley superbly but it licked the crossbar and flew over.

Somehow, four minutes into three added on. There was still time for drama, Nolan reached a knockdown on the left side of Rochdale box and went down under pressure, where ref Mr Clark immediately pointed to the spot.

After lengthy arguments from the home players, Clark went to speak to his assistant and overruled his decision.

Shrews, with Henderson forward for the resulting corner, pushed but were caught on the break and Dale skipper Henderson raced away, leaving Dean in his wake, and slotted in a third before celebrating in front of the away finish in an unbelievable finish to leave Town third in League One.

Teams

Shrewsbury Town (4-2-3-1):

Henderson; Hendrie (Bolton, 73), Nsiala (Lowe, 26), Sadler (c), Beckles; Nolan, Godfrey; Whalley, Gnahoua, Thomas (Payne, 73); C Morris.

Subs not used: MacGillivray,, Jones, Eisa, John-Lewis.

Rochdale (4-3-1-2): Lillis, Rafferty, Ntlhe (Inman 40), McNulty, McGahey, Humphrys (Davies, 77), Andrew, Camps, Rathbone (Wiseman, 90+1), Done, Henderson ©

Subs not used: Delaney, Moore, Hart, Dobre.

Referee: Richard Clark

Attendance: 4,098 (1,281 Shrewsbury fans)