Super-sub McEvilly sinks Shrews

Lee McEvilly came off the bench to earn Rochdale a 2-1 victory against League Two rivals Shrewsbury at Spotland on Boxing Day.

Rochdale triumph in tight clash at Spotland

Lee McEvilly came off the bench to earn Rochdale a 2-1 victory against League Two rivals Shrewsbury at Spotland on Boxing Day. In what was an evenly-contested game, Adam Le Fondre fired over the top early on for Rochdale while Shrewsbury went close in the 20th minute when Ben Davies whipped in a free-kick from the right which was glanced over the top by Shane Cansdell-Sheriff. Kelvin Langmead's intervention prevented Joe Thompson's fierce drive from nestling in the bottom corner of Luke Daniels' goal after good work from Jon Shaw four minutes before the break. Sam Russell pulled off a good save seven minutes into the second half when Richard Walker let fly from the edge of the area while former Rochdale favourite Grant Holt should have done better soon after when he latched on to a long punt upfield by Daniels. But Holt did do much better in the 59th minute when he opened the scoring, rounding Rory McArdle with his first touch before volleying spectacularly past Russell. McEvilly levelled in the 67th minute, side-footing a free-kick from the edge of the area under the Shrewsbury wall and past Daniels. And the winner came in the 82nd minute when Clark Keltie's corner was flicked goalward by Adam Rundle and hacked off the line by Ben Davies only for the ball to hit the in-rushing McEvilly and fly into the net.