Match Report - Dale 4 Rotherham 1

Right so let's get thinking. How could this have been a better comeback for Dagnall, having missed the last few minutes through the cruciate injury which was expected to see him miss out till 2008-9?

A goal from the half way line? Pulling a Minogue sister after the game? A call up from Capello? A bonus car stereo? Pulling both Minogue sisters?

None of them came close to this. You really could not make this up, and if you tried you'd have been written off as a fantasist. And rightly so, the real world doesn't have such hat tricks, and such things are confined to the likes of Dream Team, Jossy's Giants and Murphy's Mob.

But not at Spotland today, as a fairy tale was there for all to see, and even those who witnessed it found it hard to believe, but few could deny Daggers the accolade of becoming the man of the match having only come on with little over twenty minutes to go.

Right enough of the sycophantic praise for our now walking scouse striker. Well for now anyway, on with the rest of the match report.

Dale went into the game with a whole heap of pressure on our shoulders after defeat at Notts County at the weekend. Whilst no one should expect away win after away win, it was clear that it was pinpointed as a three pointer if we were to make the play offs.

The only change from the weekend was the return of Ben Muirhead coming back at the expense of the Bash Street Kid. This was to give us a more attacking edge to a side which lacked attacking acumen down the wings at Nottingham at the weekend.

Like at Notts, the game started pretty well for Dale. We knocked the ball about well enough, and despite the less than perfect form of recent weeks, there was a confidence to our play.

A nice move down the right hand side saw Le Fondre given a couple of chances to put Dale in front, but a deflection and then firing wide saw the Millers escape intact.

But it started looking like Accy was a flash in the pan, because with their first real attack of the game, Rotherham took the lead, with mistakes made all over the place.

They had a corner which was met with a free header at the near post before a weak save from Tommy Lee, which kind of trickled through his body into the back of the net.

If there were accusations over Lee's save for the first goal, then minutes later, he nearly gifted United a second goal as he raced out to clear a cross but got nowhere near it. Hearts were certainly in mouths at that time.

Make no mistake, had Lee been Spencer then there'd probably have been a riot, but even though Lee probably made more mistakes in one game than Spencer has all season, criticism was thankfully absent.

But Dale didn't go waving the white flag and Howe was given a great chance to get back into it. A superb through ball from Muirhead saw Howe in the clear, but with just the keeper to beat, he couldn't beat the keeper and the game remained with the visitors with the advantage. A gilt edged challenge if ever there was one.

But whilst we were kicking ourselves in the teeth, we got back on level terms through captain Jones who seemingly can't stop scoring. He's had real competition for his place with the form of Perkins and Basham, but whilst he keeps getting on that score sheet, he is irreplaceable.

A neat passing move from Dale saw Howe push Jones into the clear, and he had no problems finishing from the sort of position that Howe had missed from before. Game on.

The rest of the first half saw a few half chances to both sides, which no doubt saw Messrs Hill and Robins thankful to hear the half time whistle with the scoreline at level pegging.

It'd be unfair to describe the second half as being one way traffic, but aside from another failed Lee clearance in the opening minutes, you couldn't really find a worthwhile effort from the visitors.

We were getting into decent areas in the opening stages with both wingers causing damage without that final finish. With that in mind, it was something of a surprise when Muirhead was taken off for Basham.

That change seemed to give a flurry of free kicks to Rotherham, as every time Basham challenged for the ball, it was judged to be foot up. Not his fault he was two feet taller than the bloke he was up against.

And then came the double change. Well it was due to be a double change, but it seemed to be two or three minutes between it. Thorpe came on as part of that, but it was Dagnall who got all the plaudits.

History will judge Dagnall's performance as possibly the greatest sub appearance that we've ever had. Would be hard for any player to have had more of an impact, and given the cruciate thing, nobody could fault Daggers getting man of the match despite being on the field for 20 minutes.

The first came following good work from the surprisingly virus free Lee Thorpe. He received the ball on the dead ball line before threading it through for Dagnall who fired it into the back of the net.

You'd assume the most excited person in the ground at that point would be Dagnall, after such a lay off. But Dave Flitcroft entered the bizarre stakes by diving head first into the snow, and keeping his head in it for a good 20 seconds, whilst doing a hand stand. The Washing Machine and Sunday Sport pics will be ordinary if anyone has captured this.

But whilst that looked to be the game winner, it proved to be just the opening stage in the Dagnall trilogy which condemned any lingering and naive hopes that Rotherham could still make the play offs.

Put through by Basham, he turned one way, then another, before carefully placing the ball past former Bury keeper Warrington (via an unimportant deflection). 3-1 and the game was even more over than it had been a few minutes before.

But at this stage you just knew that the game was never going to finish 3-1. The hat trick was on, and nothing was going to stop it happening. And with snow starting to cascade onto the Spotland pitch, Dagnall sealed his hat trick with his best yet.

A long ball from TK saw Dagnall control the ball with his right, before curling it past the aging Rotherham keeper with his left. Ball up the jumper and the stuff of legends confirmed, and Dagnall's return from the bench ready to enter those late night pub conversations which are usually dominated by McCourt. One day, you'll hear the tale of the two minute hat trick after doing his cruciate in the same game.

The result leaves Dale in a fantastic position chasing that play off place, and the depression post-County is now eliminated. The problematic home form has been sorted out with back to back 4-1 wins, and whilst it would be wrong to say everything is peachy creamy, the bigger picture has Dale heading in the right direction.

Post match saw talk of travel plans for Wembley. There's a long way to go just yet. But we're that bit nearer than we were before the game. Don't go booking any holidays for May Bank Holiday just yet.