The long stream of cars over Owd Betts made sure that they came back with all three points as goals from Le Fondre, Buckley and Rhodes eased Dale to victory in a topsy turvy match.

This was without doubt one of the most difficult games that I've had to report back on over the years. For twenty off minutes, we were awful and a clear second best to an industrial Accrington side who were clearly the more up for it of the two sides. But we also had the game become one of the most one sided matches you are ever likely to see where without any exaggeration, we could have come away having scored ten goals such was our dominance.

Of course, that's only my own personal viewpoint, and I'm sure the position from the Accrington dugout will tell a very different story indeed, speaking at length about how the home side were every bit as good as we were. There's a very fine line Mr Coleman between being positive and taking the piss. The 2417 who were at the game will know exactly which side of the line you stand.

And speaking of the 2417 who were at the game, it would appear that the Dale contingent were very close indeed to outnumbering the home support, who continue to make up for their lack of numbers with the usual flag parade. One flag bigger than your ground certainly, but 1200 home fans highlights what an excellent job their club has done to compete at this level. We often talk about ourselves overachieving, but this is a completely different scale.

We were unchanged from the win against Chesterfield last weekend as we trotted out onto the well groomed pitch at the Crown Ground on an lovely Indian Summer afternoon which could well see many a Dale fan with a tanned left hand side of the face when they look in the mirror on Monday morning.

But the optimism that we carried into the game from TK's late winner from last weekend evaporated within the opening minute, as we just capitulated to give the home side the lead. More worryingly, this was the third time in just eight games that we have allowed the opposition to take the lead in the opening few minutes. Coincidence or do we have to take the pre-match warm ups back to the drawing board?

The goal was a good one but we did everything for them. We were second to every ball, and gifted them acres of space. However, it still required a decent finish and the former Macc winger John Miles volleyed home from the edge of the box to give Stanley the lead before many Dale fans had even entered the ground.

Unsurprisingly, this gave the Dale side a touch of the jitters and we produced a spell of football which was arguable our worst of the season. Normally reliable players were making uncharacteristic mistakes and we were very much second fiddle to the home side.

That said, within seconds of going behind, we had a glorious chance to get back on level terms. A great move and cross by Adam Rundle set up Gary Jones in the middle who produced a diving header only to see the ball go miserably wide. A fantastic opportunity missed

And it was Rundle again who proved to be the difference a minute or so later. Regular readers may well be aware that Rundle isn't always my favourite of players to the extent that he even has his own cheerleader in the away end now to stick up for him doing her Glenn Close routine. But the former Mansfield man was roundly applauded by my good self as he popped up on the goal line to clear what would otherwise had been a definite second goal for Stanley.

With Accrington having chances, it wasn't looking good at all for Dale, with a performance more suited to your typical Sunday afternoon drivers as we never really got out of second gear. We were at real risk of being put out of the game with just a quarter of the game on the clock.

But worry not,  for the Dale are certainly made of stronger stuff than they were a few years ago, and it was down to the very quiet up until now Will Buckley to be the difference as he has been so many times over these past few games. As is becoming his forte, he got the ball and made a bee line for the opposition box only to be brought down on the edge of it by Miles who had given Stanley the lead early on.

From where I was stood, it looked questionable whether it was inside the box or not, but the lack of serious protests by the Accy players perhaps tells you all you need to know about whether it was inside or not. Alfie stepped up, thumping the ball past the Stanley keeper Arthur's right. 1-1, game on.

And from this point on, there was only ever really going to be one winner from this game. The winner could easily have come just before half time as for the first of several times during this game, we broke through the Accrington's back line with ease. They played an offside trap like a set of old drunks, and Jordan Rhodes was the first of many to break free. However, a bad touch on the way to the box meant that he was too close to the Accrington keeper by the time he was ready to unleash his shot.

If we'd done everything right by getting back on level terms and staking out claim for superiority in the dying stages of the first half, we almost blew it in the first thirty seconds of the second half starting. Accy had a great passing move and we just backed off and backed off and all of a sudden this huge hole appeared at the back and the opposition's Griffiths had been given the freedom of the entire ground. Thankfully, he got stage fright and his effort failed to trouble Russell when he had all the time in the world. Crucially, that proved to be the last real opportunity of the game for Stanley, and after that it was simply a case of waiting for Dale to take the lead.

Well not really, as it seemed to be more of a case of how can the Dale players frustrate the Dale supporters by not taking the lead, for we completely dominated the remainder of the game. But we got into some great spaces but bad decision making let us down continually. Maybe as the season progresses, it will come with time, but it does appear that from an attacking point of view, we haven't stuck the right balance of when to look for someone in a better position or to have a crack ourselves. We've been guilty of overdoing both of those at different stages of this season. It'll come right, I have no doubts.

But after much frustration, the breakthrough did come and it came to the man of the moment Will Buckley. It's only been a matter of four or five weeks since fans were crying out for us not having a right winger at the club. Now the worry will be about how long we'll be able to keep hold of him for.

The goal came with a typical Buckley run. He has this wonderful ability of always being able to keep hold of the ball. At times, it comes across as luck as the ball always seems to land right for him, but it's happening far too often for it simply to be fortune. Leaving defenders behind in a style not seen since the days of a certain McCourt, Buckley got himself the space before drilling the ball past Arthur to make himself top scorer at Spotland, and more importantly give Dale the lead.

Now you'd have thought that the goal would have eased the frustrations but if anything it increased them as we went on to have chance after chance but still failed to kill the game off. The ten goals we mentioned earlier was certainly not OTT hyperbole about today's game.

And then with time ticking away, there was just a certain amount of panic starting to set in. Having not taken full advantage of our dominance, there was one late flurry from the home side, and it started to get the feel of one of those smash and grab raids where they'd soaked up all of our pressure and hit us late on. We'd backed off them somewhat and there were a couple of squeaky bum moments but nothing to trouble the goal.

Jonah had a great opportunity to kill the game off, when he got the ball unmarked  in acres of space on the edge of the Stanley goal. It was almost as if you were looking round for a raised flag or something, as it was unreal for a player to get the ball in that position with so much space. But full credit to the Stanley keeper Arthur for great reactions and racing out to dive at Jonah's feet.

But any doubts were soon eased when we put the game out of the reach prompting a mass exodus from the flag waving Ultras in the 90th minute. Good work from Joe Thompson down the left saw the ball pulled back, before Jordan Rhodes steered it home for his second goal in three games. Job done.

So all in all three points. Far from being the perfect performance we'd have all loved to see, but we haven't got that far stuck up our own arses where we start grumbling after 3-1 away wins. Not yet anyway.

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