Apologies for it being late but here's the match report from the Rotherham game. Rochdale managed to head to the land of the Chuckle Brothers and come back with a much deserved and very important three points. Full report online now.
Ricky Hatton may have been defeated but at least Rochdale came away from Rotherham with three points! Dale raced into a 2-0 lead but soon saw Rotherham pull it back to 2-2 but Dale were good enough to go on and score another two goals giving them an invaluable 4-2 away win against the form side of the division. Things are certainly looking up at Spotland with Dale now lying in 8th place with a game in hand and a superb away record. Dale lined up with Russell in net, a back four of Ramsden, Kennedy, McArdle and Stanton, a midfield four of Higginbotham, Rundle, Doolan and Jones with Le Fondre and Murray up front. On the bench were Rigby, Holness, Crooks, Prendergast and McEvilly. To say that Dale started the game off well would be quite the understatement really. With just four minutes on the clock, Kallum Higginbotham did quite magnificently to completely skin his marker and played in Adam Le Fondre who in turn played in Gary Jones on the edge of the box and he blasted the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot to give Rochdale the perfect start. Jones was playing in his 400th career game so it was a fitting way to mark the occasion with one of the best performances you'll see from a Dale player. We weren't finished there though as Tom Kennedy broke down the left, fed in Glenn Murray whose superb touch put the ball into the path of Adam Le Fondre who very calmly lifted the ball over the bury reject Andy Warrington to make it 2-0 after about 8 minutes! A fantastic finish from Aflie and that was his 6th goal in 13 starts this season. That sent the vocal travelling support into raptures and understandably given the run that Rotherham had been on previous to this game! Truth be told though we looked a little iffy in defence and I sensed Rotherham coming back at us and I was right. Unfortunately for Dale, John Doolan had to limp off with another hamstring injury which could apparently see him out of action for a while. He was replaced by Lee Crooks in the centre of midfield. With just under quarter of an hour gone Rotherham had got a goal back when the quite awful Pablo Mills made his only contribution of the game that didn't make us laugh when he brilliantly headed back a cross into the path of centre back Ian Sharps who was left with a simple header to make it 2-1. Rotherham were then on level terms just a couple of minutes later and understandably the wonderful mood Dale fans were in was fading fast. Another brilliantly worked goal but it didn't help that Adam Rundle, who had an impressive game otherwise, gave the ball away on the half way line and the home side worked the ball up to Derek Holmes who curled the ball into the top corner from 20 yards. As you can imagine, the Rotherham fans broke ino a chorus of "2-0 and we f***** it up!" Dale didn't capitulate though which is another positive sign and we got back into the game though Rotherham did look good on the counter with Stanton and Ramsden having to make some fantastic blocks. Dale created chances of their own though with Warrington forced to make an excellent save from a Jones effort and Le Fondre had an effort superbly cleared off the line. Russell was also called upon to save a Sharps header quite brilliantly. The half time whistle blew and Dale managed to get into the break on level terms but unfortunately, Nathan Stanton was forced off with illness and Marcus Holness was on to replace him. In fairness I think we looked even better with Holness on the pitch and he performed superbly and I just hope Oldham are as generous as they were with Higgy and that we can acquire Holness on a permanent deal! Dale struck again just after half time when a fantastic Higginbotham corner came in and Glenn Murray rose like a salmon to head it home for his 6th goal of the season as well. Dale back in front at 3-2! Sam Russell was then called into action with just under half an hour to go when Sharps headed goalwards but the impressive keeper was equal to it and tipped it over the bar superbly. Dale continued to press and created more chances as they began to control the game. Adam Le Fondre and Gary Jones both went close with efforts that went over the bar. Lee McEvilly replaced Adam Le Fondre as the game drew to a close and Evil was to have the last say on the game. Rotherham had been left with half chances at best and there was only going to be one outcome in the game and that was ensured in stoppage time when Glenn Murray set up Evil for a tap in even though he seemed to try his best to miss it but 4-2 it was to finish off an action packed game with a wonderful outcome which was fully deserved and now takes Dale up to 8th in the league with a game in hand. That'll dink dank do for me! Player Ratings: Sam Russell - 8 Simon Ramsden - 7 Tom Kennedy - 6 Nathan Stanton - 7 Rory McArdle - 7 Kallum Higginbotham - 8 Adam Rundle - 7 John Doolan - 6 Gary Jones - 10 Glenn Murray - 8 Adam Le Fondre - 7 Lee Crooks - 7 Marcus Holness - 7 Lee McEvilly - 7