A place in the National League playoff semi-finals is up for grabs on Thursday night when Rochdale lock horns with Southend United in a playoff eliminator showdown at the Crown Oil Arena.
The winners of this one-off tie will take on Forest Green Rovers away from home in the semi-finals on May 21.
Match preview
After settling for an 11th-placed finish in 2023-24 - their first season as a National League club in over a century - Rochdale have proven to be one of the strongest teams in the fifth tier this term, finishing the regular campaign in fourth spot.
The Dale accumulated a total of 74 points after winning 21, drawing 11 and losing 14 of their 46 league fixtures, with a six-game unbeaten run ended last weekend by Braintree Town (2-0) away from home.
Nothing was riding on Rochdale's final game of the season and Jimmy McNulty's "fundamental priorities" were to rest players as well as welcome back a couple of others from injury ahead of an "exciting" and important fixture on Thursday.
McNulty has urged his players to approach their clash with Southend with "no fear" and "belief" that they can get the job done on home soil, where they have won three of their four matches, scoring 13 goals and conceding only one in the process.
Southend have made themselves difficult to beat, though, as they have lost only two of their last 17 National League games (W7 D8) and have gone over 360 minutes without conceding a goal, keeping a fourth successive clean sheet in last weekend's goalless draw with Gateshead.
The Shrimpers needed to avoid defeat in their final match of the regular season to secure seventh spot - their highest finish in the National League since dropping down from the EFL four years ago - ahead of Gateshead, who narrowly missed out on the final playoff position by just one point.
Considering that they endured a challenging start to the campaign with a transfer embargo and the loss of a few key players, and were then languishing as low as 15th in the table in January, head coach Kevin Maher is thrilled with how his Southend side have put together a strong run of form at the backend of the season and he hopes that they can take that momentum into the playoffs.
Southend secured a slender 1-0 win at Rochdale earlier in the season, but their recent away record leaves a little to be desired, as they head to the Crown Oil Arena having won only two of their last nine matches on the road (D5 L2), conceding 11 goals in that time.
Team News
Rochdale were able to welcome back defender Liam Hogan and midfielder Ryan East to the matchday squad last weekend following lengthy spells out through injury. The former came on at half time and the latter played for just over an hour from the start, and both players are in contention to feature again.
McNulty is expected to name his strongest possible starting lineup, which is set to include top scorer Devante Rodney, who has netted 17 times this season, while club legend Ian Henderson - still going strong at the age of 40 - is also hoping to feature in the final third.
As for Southend, James Golding and Adam Crowther both remain sidelined as they continue to recover from respected groin and knee injuries, the latter of whom is yet to make an appearance in 2025.
Maher is likely to stick with Nicholas Hayes in goal, with Collin Andeng-Ndi set to remain on the bench for a sixth consecutive match, while Gus Scott-Morriss - who has scored a team-high 17 goals from right-back this season - will retain his starting spot as both Charley Kendall and Tom Hopper continue to lead the line.
Rochdale possible starting lineup:
Barrett; Gordon, Ebanks-Landell, Beckwith; Adebayo-Rowling, Gilmour, Barlow, Allarakhia; Ayinde, Henderson, Rodney
Southend United possible starting lineup:
Hayes; Scott-Morriss, Goodliffe, Taylor, Ralph, Bridge; Coker, Appiah-Forson, Husin; Kendall; Hopper
We say: Rochdale 1-1 Southend United (Southend to win on penalties)
A tight affair could be in store on Thursday and the prospect of extra time and even penalties cannot be ruled out here, as there is little to separate these two teams. Nevertheless, we are backing Southend to frustrate Rochdale on their own turf and edge themselves into the semi-finals.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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