For the fourth successive season, Dale beat Brighton at Spotland, with the winner coming in the first half thanks to a superb goal by Graham Lancashire. However this wasn't the best Dale performance of the season, and they had to endure spells in the second half under pressure from the visitors.

Dale went into the match with two changes from the side which lost up at Hartlepool. Mark Monington had recovered from flu and replaced Dave Bayliss in the centre of the defence who had to make do with a place on the bench. Also Chris Bettney came back into the starting line up in place of Graeme Atkinson who like Bayliss was amongst the substitutes.

Looking at the teams, it was obvious that Brighton were a tall, physical side, who wouldn't mess about when it came to challenges. They had a six foot plus skinhead at the heart of defence in the form of Danny Cullip, and a forward line up consisting on a tall Italian and a Batistuta lookalike in the form of Darren Freeman, who the previous week scored the first goal of the new millennium.

In the early stages, Brighton were on top and had Dale were on the back foot for the first few minutes. Albion were obviously keen to make up for that defeat at Withdean last month, and looked determined to score an early goal. However, despite this early pressure, they were unable to offer anything which could be even classed as a chance.

Dale, after weathering this early storm, came back into the game, and were soon very much on top. The ball was knocked about at will, and we looked a class above the visitors. Chris Bettney looked dangerous, and seemed to beat three or four players every time he got the ball. Ellis and Lancashire were continuing their fine partnership which has delivered six goals since getting together halfway through the Carlisle match. Dave Flitcroft was doing well down the right hand side, despite having to put up with some very physical challenges, including a couple of Beckham style efforts on him from Albion captain and one time Dale target Paul Rodgers.

Gary Jones was doing a lot of work in the middle and he came closest to putting Dale in front when he burst through and a shot from the edge of the box, which former Freddie Mercury lookalike (from his Fulham days) Mark Walton tipped wide of the post.

It wasn't long before Dale took a deserved lead. As mentioned above, the ball was being passed about with ease with the visitors helpless to do anything about it. Finally a clever ball cut open the Brighton defence, where Graham Lancashire stretched full length to volley the ball over the head of Walton into the net at the Sandy Lane end to put Dale one up.

The second half began, and Dale were soon on the back foot yet again, and this continued to be the case for much of the second half. Brighton had a lot of pressure, with pony tailed Darren Freeman causing all sorts of problems in the Dale defence. He ran Dean Stokes ragged, with Stokes struggling on several occasions to keep up with him.

It was not all one way traffic, and Dale had enough opportunities to stretch their lead in the second half, as they attacked on the break, but they couldn't really take advantage of this spells, meaning Brighton were once again allowed to come at us.

However, it was not to be, as the Dale backline resisted. Neil Edwards only really had two or three efforts to save. The closest Brighton came to scoring was following a disputed free kick on the edge of the box, following a great tackle on Gary Hart who fell to the floor. Edwards saw this effort go past his right hand post.

It may not have been the best performance of the season, but it was a vital victory. The game at Hartlepool may have been a great spectacle, but we returned from their empty handed. This was another step in the right direction for our home form which has seen Dale win four out of their last five home matches.

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