But a top of the table clash this was, and it lived up to every bit of its billing as both sides produced a cracking game of football where Dale produced a victory which had looked at one point about as likely as Adam Rundle joining Oasis after his Wonderwall efforts on the Beeb last weekend.

The afternoon started with some head scratching amongst the 300 strong Dale support as team news filtered through into the "Come on Stacey" poster covered Social Club at what is known as the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham Stadium.

Three centre halves and two full backs had fans speculating about a possible 5-3-2 formation, especially given the "alien formation" suggested by Hilly in the Ob on the morning of the game. Reality was even stranger with a line up that no one on the planet could have predicted.

We had right back Wiseman at left back, centre half McArdle at right back, TK on the left wing, and new left wing signing Will Atkinson out on the right wing. Add to that, two Jasons in the middle, as Jason Taylor made his Dale debut eighteen months later than Hillcroft wanted it to be. On the plus side, we went into this game with the same keeper for the first time in six games.

All talk of whether this was a line up of a genius or a madman subsided approximately two minutes into the game, as we conceded with ease as the home side started like their lives depended on it. This was to be no 4-0 repeat of the trip to Bournemouth.

A cross from the right wing, caused issues in the Dale box, and arguably the home side could have been awarded a penalty as one of their attackers found themselves pushed to the floor. There was the briefest hint of an appeal from the home side, but not for long as the ball bounced to Peter Gain at the back post, and his looping header gave us no chance whatsoever, giving the Daggers the lead whilst many Dale fans were still coming into the ground.

Unfortunately for Dale, this was merely the opening blow for the home side, and they continued to set about us like they were in for the kill. They played like there was more than just three points at stake, and they wanted to put out a definitive statement to the division that they were top on merit, with no plans to let that leadership drop.

It was Alamo stuff, and the only positive thing you could say was that as Dale supporters we had the best seats in the house with pretty much all of the action taking place right in front of us in the superb new stand. How those behind the opposing goal must have been wanting some close up action.

Criticism of loanee keeper Tom Heaton in last week's game with Chesterfield was deservedly forgotten about not long after that goal, as he produced one of the saves of the season. A long range effort saw him dive full length to tip over an effort that was most definitely in the top corner. The shot couldn't have been placed any better, yet still it didn't go in.

The problems kept on mounting, and even a switch in formation to one in which players were given slightly more familiar positions did little to stem the flow of Dagenham attacks. We had to rely on the post as a free header bounced back off the upright. We were living dangerously.

It could have been worse, and it was only the excellent refereeing of Keith Stroud which prevented the home side being awarded a penalty. An inch perfect tackle on the outstanding Benson had hearts in the mouth, but Benson went to the floor after the tackle. Far from the being the dive that some accused him of, but it was simply a great tackle.

We did actually have a brief moment of potential glory ourselves, when Chris Dagnall looked to broken free of the home defence before slotting the ball past Tony Roberts in the Dagenham goals, but the linesman flag had gone up early enough to prevent any excitement in the Pondfield Road stand.

Half time brought some premature post mortems, with many lamenting the formation that Hill had started the game with, but in fairness even the switch to the more familiar positions did little to change the way the half had transpired.

We had witnessed arguably one of the best halves of football from an opposition side in many a season, and for all the talk about how we hadn't been in the game, you have to pay full credit to an excellent Dagenham side who could well have issued a declaration against 95% of sides within the bottom two divisions.

But we've been here before. Does anybody still write this Dale side off?

It seems almost Comical Jon style optimism to take heart from the first half, but to have been so heavily outplayed for 45 minutes yet still been in the game is something that we could take comfort from, and it was reminiscent of last season's trip to Shrewsbury where we also hadn't had a kick during the first half.

The second half began with the appearance of Will Buckley, who came on to replace Rory McArdle as we went with the most orthodox 4-4-2 that we could during the afternoon. Whether it was Will, or the half time inspiration, but it took around thirty second to realise that we would not be seeing a re-enactment of the first half, and the home side had a game on their hands.

It might not have been a case of throwing the kitchen sink back at them, but for once we were retaining possession in the Dagenham half and they had something to think about. Buckley, despite recent injury issues, was causing them problems and looked to be our most likely outlet during the afternoon.

Bit by bit, we were starting to take control of the game, and whilst the home side continued to look dangerous, things were starting to go our way with our midfield finally getting to grips with the game. New signing Jason Taylor who had looked a bit of a passenger in the first half was starting to become the dominant force with a mixture of tackling and passing that impressed, and he certainly wasn't afraid to get stuck in when need be.

The first real sign that we could obtain something from this game came following the introduction of Kallum Higginbotham. Higgy has been something of a forgotten man at Spotland, and he's never really shown anything like the form he did when he first burst onto the scene two years ago. But this afternoon was his afternoon.

His low cross from the right was blocked by Daggers keeper Tony Roberts with the ball bouncing on to the arm of Dagenham defender Scott Doe with the away support howling for a penalty.

Not to be outdone, it was that man Higgy doing it again. Perhaps that penalty shout had given him a renewed confidence, or perhaps he was buoyed by memories of his wonder goal for Dale here two years previously, but whatever it was, it worked as he played with a desire to make things happen.

Picking the ball up in the Dagenham box, he shrugged off his marker and with the first sniff of a shot, his low drive nestled beautifully into the back of the net to provide the first stranger hugging moment of the afternoon.

At times like this, it would be perfectly understandable for thoughts to turn to a possible Dale victory. We had the home side on the back foot and we had all the belief. But there was no such thoughts this time. There wasn't enough time to do so, because one minute thirty seconds later we were winning.

A cross from the left this time, with TK the provider and a flick on from Chris Dagnall to a pouncing Craig Dawson at the back post to make it five goals to the ever growing list of plaudits for the teenage defender who was more bothered about basketball a couple of years back.

We've talked about the Joey T story as being the stuff of dreams, but with Dawson we have a young lad who only eighteen months ago was mobbing the likes of Dagnall, Kennedy, McArdle as one of those on the pitch celebrating the Darlington play off victory. They are now his team mates. There'll be a book written about these Hillcroft days eventually.

Fifteen minutes to go? Could we hold on? Could we snatch a third to secure a win? Could results change elsewhere to put us top of the league? Questions, questions, questions, but a complete set of different questions than those being asked at half time.

If anything, we were the more likely of the two sides to add to their tally, as with Buckley ghosting through their defence, we were taking advantage of the gaps that were now appearing, and it took a good save by Tony Roberts to prevent a long range effort from our ginger midfielder Jason going in. Yes, I don't know which one it was.

For me, the comeback was summed up a couple of minutes from time, when Will Buckley ran into trouble into the home side's box. As the Daggers launched a counter attack, it was our very own Daggers who ran fully thirty yards to break down the attack right in front of the dugouts. The resultant throw in immediately came to nothing. We are all defenders, we are all attackers.

The home side huffed and they puffed, but despite a lovely move which resulted in the freshest of fresh air shots, with the ensuing hilarity even seeing one home supporter ejected from the terraces.

And it wasn't just the home supporters struggling to cope with the dynamic Dale comeback, as the home side's second half sub Wes Thomas had a plot losing moment with a challenge on Dagnall well over the ball that left our Scouse frontman poleaxed on the floor for a couple of minutes before forcing him off. With the referee closer to the challenge than the ball was, there was never going to be anything other than a red card for the challenge.

That challenge meant that the four minutes of added on time was closer to eight minutes by the time the referee called an end to things, and aside from a couple of worrying set pieces in dangerous areas, Heaton wasn't troubled during that time and we held on for another three points on the road for our patched up side, putting an end to the home side's unbeaten home record in the process.

So departing loanees, key injuries, players meeting each other in the warm up to games, suspensions, massive switch rounds during the game, and a 45 minute head start given to the opposition, and you still can't hold this Dale side back.