Dale picked up a very valuable three points with victory in the opening game at the Kassam Stadium, with joint top goal scorer Simon Coleman grabbing the vital winner with his left foot with twenty five minutes left to go in the match. Full match report now online!

We arrived at Oxford's new Kassam Stadium early in the day, and I must admit feeling quite disappointed by it. Forgetting the fact that there was only three sides, which in itself was not a problem, but it just didn't seem new. I know the ground has taken a long while to build, with the first breezeblock laid before Fordy started playing, but there was just something disappointing about it all. It lacked a "newness" about it.

Nevertheless, the away end looked superb as it was filled up with Dale, with around 7-800 in attendance. The nearest example was it was like the away section we have at Carlisle, and because we were enclosed off in one corner of the stand, we were all bunched together which helped for a fantastic atmosphere from about 2:45 pm onwards!

Dale lined up with the expected team in the usual 4-4-2 formation that had started many of the pre-season friendlies which saw Edwards, Bayliss and Flitcroft all miss out through suspension, and Green missing through injury. There was also full debuts for Gareth Griffiths in defence and Matt Doughty on the left hand side.

The early stages of the game were pretty even, but the first blow of the match came when the highly rated Jamie Brooks broke way clear of the Dale defence in the opening five minutes. With the Dale defence lagging behind, he was one on one with 19 yr old keeper Matthew Gilks, but Gilks was more than equal to Brooks and saved well at his feet. That save gave Gilks just the confidence that he needed, and he went on to have an assured game.

Despite that early scare, and a five minute delay due to a pitch invasion - by balloons, Dale came back into it, roared on by the magnificent following from Dale. We soon got to grips with the game, and we were well on top. Michael Oliver tried a very cheeky lob from about thirty yards, which looked to be going well over till it dipped in the last couple of minutes.

The Dale defensive line of Evans, Coleman, Griffiths and Todd were superb and even up against a pacey forward line were equal to it. Griffiths was awesome and he won absolutely everything in the air, and is proving to be the pick of the new Summer signings.

The best chance of the opening stages came to veteran Tony Ford. He produced a stunning volley from within the penalty area that had goal written all over it. He somehow got deflected over the bar, but whether it was deflected by the keeper or defender I don't know.

The goal came on thirty minutes, and every emotion I mentioned in the match preview was there in full glory! New signing Matt Doughty picked the ball up on the left, and he beat a couple of defenders. He found himself central and with little options to do anything else, he had a crack himself and the ball curled into the right hand side of the goal. You beauty!

There were shades of Cheltenham two years ago, where we welcomed them to the football league, as the roar of "Welcome to Division 3" rang out from the away end.

Unfortunately for us, this proved to be the signal for the home side to get their act together and from here on in, it was pretty much one way traffic for the rest of the first half. Oxford had a succession of corners, and although we managed to scramble them away, they never looked overly threatening from any of them.

Deep into the allotted five minutes of injury time in the first half, Oxford were awarded an indirect free kick within the Dale six yard box, when Matthew Gilks was adjudged to have been the victim of a back pass. Before picking it up, he appeared to ask the ref whether it was okay, and he must have misinterpreted the signal, as the ref was quick to blow for the free kick. Fortunately for Dale, the free kick went high and wide.

Half time came and saw a bit of bother underneath the stand, where Oxford fans were apparently trying to break into the Rochdale section. Perhaps they had recognised ourselves as being the better team, had been converted to the Dale cause in the first half, and wanted to stand with Dale supporters to cheer on Dale. Or perhaps not! Whatever the reasons, one Dale supporter was led away with a cut to his head, though he was well enough to rejoin the Dale fans after being patched up by St.Johns.

If Oxford finished the first half well, then they started the second half well and truly on top. They started like the proverbial house on fire, and they looked to have scored with the opening couple of minutes when former Barnet full back Sam Stockley looked to have scored at the back post following a super cross from the left hand side. However, somehow Gilks pulled off an astonishing save to deny Stockley. It was a truly great save that would have had the present Tufty Edwards on his feet applauding.

However, Oxford kept up the pressure, and within another couple of minutes they had got the equaliser that they deserved. It came via a mistake by Gareth Griffiths, who otherwise had a faultless game. He attempted a pass back to Gilks, but got no power on it whatsoever, and that allowed Joey Brooks to nip in, and with that much time and space, he was never going to make the same mistake he made in the first half, and he comfortably put the ball past Gilks.

At this stage, I would have took a draw, as for the previous twenty minutes or so in the match since Dale scored, they had been well on top, and it looked like for all the world they would go on and win the game. However, if anything, their equaliser was almost their last chance of the entire game.

It looked like Dale had come up with the perfect response when within a minute or two of Oxford scoring, Paul Connor, fresh from being elbowed in the face right in front of the referee, had the ball in the back of the net, but it was ruled out for offside. It was close, very close!

But if we were going to have a goal disallowed, and look stupid by celebrating it, then it was only fair that Oxford did too. One of their players was flagged for offside, but nipped in to take advantage of a mix up between Coleman and Gilks (who both had obviously been aware of the linesman's flag), then buried it into the back of the net, before racing off to practice his celebrations for when he scores for real. That was to be their last worthwhile effort, if you could call it that.

Dale, realising that Oxford had nothing more to offer, came back into the match more and more, and half way through the second half we regained the lead through perhaps the most unlikely of sources. A cross came over from Tony Ford, which was connected by Griffiths, and from out of nowhere Simon Coleman poked the ball home with his left foot, ignoring calls for offside. He hasn't got many goals in his career, and out of those he has scored, I guess very few of them have been from his feet judging by the celebration which was some sort of Riverdance number!

Any expected fightback from the home side failed to happen, and the Dale defence stood solid and prevented any further threat. Griffiths contined to be a rock at the back, and if anything we looked the more likely team to score again.

Kevin Townson was brought on for Connor and scared the home side to death, who were committing men forward. His pace and awareness were fantastic, and he could have had two or three goals with a little bit of luck. He also helped give us the option of just hoofing it forward in the final six minutes of injury time that the referee played.

But in the end, Dale held out to record a very worthy victory. With the exception of a twenty minute spell around half time, we pretty much controlled the game. The effort and work rate from the team was outstanding and you could pick fault with none of them.

The tension that we had to endure during that second half was all worth it, and the Plymouth match is now just a distant memory. The promotion bandwagon is getting started!

Photo: Action Images

Rochdale Polls