Another fine away result kept us well and truly in the race for the playoffs as Dale travelled to hole that is London to take on Brentford and came back with three points.  Another late Chaff match report online now.

Another away win, another very very ace day out, another
reason to go out celebrating afterwards and whisper it quietly but another
reason to get a little bit excited about how our season could end.

Were we just being teased as we passed a quite stunning
looking Wembley Stadium on the way in and out of Brentford?  Or maybe, just
maybe was it a sign that it might not be last time we see it this season?

A very long journey south to the complete and utter hell
hole that is London isn't the most fun in the world so taking three points back
with you makes it a whole lot better an experience, especially given that our
record in London is quite awful.  Our trip down ended with us parking up on
what looked like an even worse version of the Chatsworth Estate on Shameless
which had us wondering if we were going to come back to see the car still there
or whether we'd be getting shot or something but unphased by this, we headed off
for a quick pint in the New Inn.  The old firm derby was on the TV and the
pub was absolutely rammed with Billy Connolly soundalikes all wearing Celtic
shirts so we supped up and headed to the ground.

As with most Southern games you get to see a fair few of
the exiles (though I was only concentrating on one in particular :P) which
boosted the numbers to not far off 400 in the away end.  That said, it
would have been a better away following had one particular Blackpool based
former Dale employee not decided to get married on Saturday.  Fair enough,
go and tie the knot if you must but what do you think June was invented for? 
There's no England presence in Euro 2008 so what more could you ask for?! 
Come on Wilf, have a word son! :D

Oh yeah, there was a game as well wasn't there. 

The Dale lined up with the same team that beat Rotherham
with the exception of Ben Muirhead being dropped in favour of Chris Basham. 
The two new loanees Button Moon and Lewis Montrose had to make do with a place
on the bench along.  That mean Dale lined up as follows:  Lee,
Ramsden, Kennedy, McArdle, Stanton, Basham, Rundle, Perkins, Jones, Le Fondre
and Howe.  On the bench were Button, Holness, Dagnall, Muirhead and
Thorpe.

In truth, we didn't play well in the first half and the
match itself wasn't exactly one for the neutral with a very wet pitch having an
effect on the quality of football.

Brentford seemed to deal with the conditions a bit better
than we did and had a lot of possession without making it count.  Their
forward line were getting the better of McArdle and Stanton in the air but they
failed to find the net.

Dale had the best chance of the half when Rundle-tron put
in a cross to the back post which Howe rose to connect with but his header hit
the post when it looked for all the world like he should have made it 1-0.

Elder was looking the danger man for the home side and was
winning absolutely everything in the air against McArdle.  He had a couple
of good chances to break the deadlock but failed to take them. 

He broke the offside trap but got his shot completely
wrong and it ended up nearer the corner flag than the net.  Que
Jangleberry's Bolton originated chant of "der der der der f*****g useless!"

Elder was the provider though shortly after when he
crossed for Rochdale reject Glenn Poole to head goalwards but Tommy Lee pulled
off a good save to keep it out.

Alan Connell was the next to receive a chance courtesy of
Elder who flicked a header on but Connell's shot was straight at Lee who saved.

So despite having the better of the possession and more
chances, the game was 0-0 at half time with most Dale fans saying they'd take a
point if offered, myself included.

Dale came out looking a lot better but Brentford still
created a couple of good chances early on after the re-start.  Poole and
Elder both had chances but couldn't find the target.

With less than ten minutes of the second half gone, a
double change was occurring on the Dale bench with Brentford reject Lee Thorpe
and Ben Muirhead stripped and ready to come on.  A disappointed Le Fondre
and Basham made way for them and the change seemed to work wonders. 

Rochdale_Matt off the messageboard turned to me and
shouted Lee Thorpe will score for us in this game and I laughed at the thought
and told him he was being silly.  Thorpe must have heard my laughs. 
Imagine my face as Simon Ramsden crossed for Lee Thorpe who then looped a
fantastic header over Brown into the far corner to make it 1-0 to Dale. 
Que Rochdale_Matt trying to jump on me!

"Brentford Reject!" was the cry from the away end as
Thorpedo turned his back to us and just pointed to his name on his shirt!

That certainly lifted the spirits in the Dale section and
at that point there was never any doubt that we'd be leaving with the points. 
News of Chesterfield winning was making it a more important victory as well.

Dale's Easter Monday hero Chris Dagnall came on to a
fantastic reception from Dale fans as he replaced an off form Rene Howe. 
Daggers' hero status nearly went up even further when he went agonizingly close
with a looping header that landed on the roof of the net.

It was all getting too much for one Brentford fan. 
He must have been no older than about 15 but he took it upon himself to try and
verbally abuse the entire away end while chavved up to the max.  In the
end, after receiving a tirade of abuse from us in reply, he started getting a
bit silly and the Police took pity on him and dragged him out.  That was
topped off as his pants fell down while they were dragging him out as well. 
The lad needs to take a long hard look in the mirror and ask himself what he's
doing!  Honestly, I despair!

Brentford should have equalised shortly after when Connell
got the better of TK and Stanton before forcing Lee to make a good save. 
Lee couldn't keep hold of the shot though which fell straight to Elder and with
virtually an open net looking at him, he somehow managed to hit the ball over
the bar!

Had that gone in, we might have had a much different
result on our hands but Dale completed their twelfth away win of the season when
Jonah set Muirhead off down the right and put the ball into the box for Rundle
who's first shot was blocked by the most blatant handball you'll ever see but
the rebound fell to him and he made no mistake with the finish to cap his fourth
goal of the season.

The older and no doubt wiser Dale fans will tell you not
to get carried away with thoughts of the 'P' word and not to sing 'P' word songs
but it's becoming increasingly more difficult not to start believing we could
actually achieve it!

Chaff's Player Ratings:

Tommy Lee - 6

Simon Ramsden - 7

Tom Kennedy - 7

Rory McArdle - 7

Nathan Stanton - 6

Chris Basham - 6

ADAM RUNDLE - 8

David Perkins - 7

Gary Jones - 7

Adam Le Fondre - 6

Rene Howe - 5

Ben Muirhead - 7

Lee Thorpe - 7

Chris Dagnall - 7

Photo: Action Images

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