Forest Green Rovers settled for a point in a 0-0 draw away at the Crown Oil Arena on Saturday afternoon. 

Rovers forward Christian Doidge came the closest for the away side as his second half effort was poked goalwards into the arms of Luke McNicholas, the Rochdale goalkeeper. 

The first half was a cagey affair with the home side starting strong but a deflected effort from captain Ben Tozer almost changed the tie completely. 

Both sides came close to an opener at times but neither could find the goal in order to steal all three points away from the other.

Liam Sercombe almost found a late winner after Ben Tozer's long throw caused problems in Dale's defence, but McNicholas did well to lay claim on the ball.

Rochdale AFC: 1 McNicholas; 2 Gordon, 6 Ebanks-Landell, 33 Beckwith; 14 Adebayo-Rowling (Senior 87’), 8 Gilmour (Henry 55’), 4 East, 7 Allarakhia; 10 Rodney (Henderson 80’), 21 McBride, 9 Mitchell

Unused subs: 12 Kelly, 3 Armstrong, 16 Ferguson

Forest Green Rovers: Ward; Jenks, Tozer (C), Inniss, Robson; McCann, May, Sercombe; McAllister, Doidge, Knowles (Osadebe 90’)

Unused subs: Searle, Bunker, Omotoye, Moore-Taylor

Referee: Andrew Miller

Match Attendance: 2261 (Away: 78)