Dale left Adams Park with three points after a fanastic performance by every Dale player on the pitch. Full match report online now...
Wycombe: Stetch, Hunt, Johnson, Antwi, Woodman, Phillips, Spence, Sawyer, Holt, Harrold and Akinde.
Rochdale: Fielding, Wiseman, Ramsden, McArdle, Kennedy, Dagnall, M. Jones, Keltie, Adams, Le Fondre and Thorpe.
From the start, this game was a case of attack and defend with Wycombe happy to sit back and let Dale play and hope to hurt Dale from any mistakes we made.
But the trouble for Wycombe was that Dale made hardly any mistakes at all, with the first being McArdle's fault as he mis-judged the flight of the ball, however, he recovered and Akinde was unable to take advantage from it.
The second error was a major one, when Fielding messed up a routine free kick and then had the ball taken off him by the impressive Matt Harrold who was clean through on goal from the error.
McArdle was the first to respond, trying to cover the net and Akinde who was lurking at the far post, but neither were troubled as Harrold had taken that long that he allowed Fielding to recover and put in a superb sliding tackle in just outside the 6 yard box, with the ball being scooped away by McArdle instantly.
Fielding also had two saves to make in a matter of seconds as two deflected Wycombe shots were fired in, with the on loan 'keeper reacting brilliant to save the first and the second hitting Fielding in the face!
Apart from that, any real Wycombe threat was snuffed out by fantastic defending by every man in a Dale shirt.
On the other hand, Wycombe's on loan 'keeper was being worked out on a regular basis, pulling off a brilliant top corner save to keep a long distance effort from Wiseman out whilst both Thorpe and Alfie came close with headers too.
Thorpe also found himself with enough room to test Wycombe's goalkeeper from range with a powerful effort, but the 'keeper did well to deflect it away.
Alfie had Dale's best chance of the half as Nicky Adams sent a cross over with the striker unmarked, but he failed to get his header on target.
The first half wasn’t without controversy though, with Adams booked for diving, Keltie booked for dissent and Thorpe booked for trying to pull off a Street Fighter throw on David McCracken, who Thorpe argued had stamped on him.
The second half was similar to the first as Dale enjoyed all the possession once again, with Wycombe's 'keeper keeping them in the match with a fine performance.
However, the turning point came when Nicky Adams was replaced by Adam Rundle, who was to put in one of the best performances I've seen from him in a while.
From the first time he had the ball to the last, Rundle was hurting Wycombe and their right hand side just didn't know how to deal with him.Rundle had a powerful effort saved by Stech after cutting in from the right flank as Dale spent the remainder of the game practically camped in Wycombe's half.
Thorpe, who looked exhausted after putting in a terrific display, was replaced by on loan debutant Gary Madine on the 70th minute as Dale looked to get the goal they needed.
And it came in the final minute, after a poor kick from Stech was picked up by Rundle, who drove at Wycombe's right back before whipping in a cross which Madine managed to control, before knocking the ball into Le Fondre's path, with Alfie scooping the ball over Stech to finally get the goal Rochdale deserved.
Joe Thompson replaced Dagnall in stoppage time as Dale saw out the remaining minutes without any trouble from Peter Taylor’s Wycombe whatsoever.
Match Ratings:
Fielding 8
Wiseman 7
Ramsden 7
McArdle 8
Kennedy 7
Dagnall 7
Keltie 7
M. Jones 7
Adams 7
Thorpe 7
Alfie 8
Substitutes:
Rundle 8
Madine 7
Thompson: 6