Dale's recent impressive home form continued as Grimsby were put to the sword, with a Rene Howe hat trick until that dubious goals committee get involved. Report now online.

You'd be forgiven for walking away from this game thinking that Dale had scraped it, after a last five minutes saw enough hair raising moments to make that Bradford goalmouth scramble look like a walk in the park.

But the truth was that Dale had dominated the game for long periods, and Town's late goal was their first venture into the Dale half for the entire second half, and whilst it was enough to give us a scare, few people could come away and argue that we didn't deserve all three points.

On a Spotland afternoon, which seemed to have every bit of weather known to man, no doubt only to tease the Grimsby fans that the game might not finish, Dale boss Keith Hill opted to go with the same side that triumphed over Bradford in midweek. The only switch was the return of Rene Howe in place of the virus hit Chris Dagnall on the bench.

The game got off to a fiery start. Perhaps not quite at the tempo that the Bradford game was played at, but it was certainly an open contest, with both sides having chances to grab the opening goal.

The visitors were causing us one or two problems at the back, and whilst the referee seemed to be getting plenty of stick from Dale supporters, it was my opinion that he got every decision spot on.

Former Dale player Jamie Clarke had the chance to give them the lead from a free kick, but he drove it into the wall. But it was a second free kick which was their closest effort, when Ciaron Toner fired in a free kick, hitting the under side of the bar before being cleared.

But don't misinterpret that to think that the first half was all Grimsby. It wasn't and we had plenty of chances of our own to grab the lead.

Lee Thorpe seemed to have a free header from out of nowhere, but it hid the woodwork. And Thorpe wasn't the only Dale player to hit the woodwork, as Rundle discovered a whole new side to his game when he too had a free kick come crashing off the bar from distance.

We were dealt a blow when a challenge in the Grimsby penalty box saw Thorpe crashing to the floor and despite his best efforts, he couldn't carry on, with worrying reports that he may be ruled out for the season with this injury. Enter Rene Howe. 

Other points of note from the first half was the referee giving out plenty of yellow cards. We had Kennedy and Perkins booked cheaply but it was the yellow cards given to Grimsby striker Jarman which proved to be the difference.

There were loud protests from the away end which seemed to lack last week's Wembley tourists amongst the Town support, but you couldn't argue with either of Jarman's yellow cards. Indeed, his reaction to the challenge which brought him his second booking indicated that he knew the game was up.

There's no doubting that Dale benefitted from the extra man in the second half, and Buckley's tactical substitution did little to prevent the onslaught that was to follow.

It's pointless to debate whether Dale would have gone on to win or not. The fact is, we did have the numerical advantage and we more than made it count as a times it seemed like we had 3 or 4 more players than the Fishy lot did.

With the extra player, we took the lead about a minute into the second half, making all of Alan Buckley's chance and half time team talk utterly pointless.

Understandably, it will be Rundle and Rene Howe getting most of the plaudits for the opening Dale goal, but the credit must start off with the man who started the move - that being Tom Kennedy.

With two men on him, he kept the ball in play in tricky circumstances, before a super ball gave Rundle a clear run at goal. He cut to the bye line before crossing over to the unmarked Rene Howe at the back post who couldn't really fail from there. 1-0 to Dale.

With momentum behind us, we doubled our lead within a few minutes and it was Rene Howe again who scored our second, though it was much more of an individual effort this time round.

Howe, who clearly saw from David Perkins that tights are the way forward, got the ball after a long clearance saw Kallum Higginbotham brilliantly head it into the path of Howe, and then the on loan striker fired it past the keeper into the back of the net courtesy of a rebound off the post.

And at this stage, it was a case of how many would we score. It all got a bit too easy and we probably took our eye off the ball a little during that time.

Alfie who came on as a sub for the impressive Muirhead had the best chance he'll ever have in his entire career, when he was put in the clear six yards out. If anything, he had too much time, and the thinking about what to do rather than rely on instinct saw him prod the ball back to the keeper.

We were all over the visiting side, and more goals surely had to follow at some stage such was our dominance. Rundle was a permanent thorn in their side, and the Mariners could hardly get a kick of the ball, nevermind get out of their own half.

The only danger was the threat of us self destructing which we nearly did. Having already been booked, Perkins got a stern telling off from the referee after mouthing off and for about three or four minutes everybody inside Spotland was desperate to get Perkins off the pitch to avoid a second yellow which could only have been a matter of time away.

He was eventually taken off for Basham, but in the disruption that caused, we allowed Grimsby for their one attack of the second half, and from which they scored. A cross from the left was headed home by Taylor and all of a sudden we had a grand stand finish.

The talk during the week was about Kahunas, and for once, we were in desperate need of some, as Grimsby suddenly got a sniff of a smash and grab act, and piled bodies forward. They threw on their own version of Gary Jones who made up for their lack of numbers with his size.

With time ticking away, they probably had about three or four decent chances to get an undeserved equaliser, and they even launched their keeper forward at one point in search of a goal.

But it wasn't to be, and an intelligent move forward on the break from Le Fondre threaded the ball over to Howe on the right hand side, who's shot was saved by the keeper onto the post, before rebounding and hitting him and going in.

It was game over at this point, and talk was of whether the goal will be credited to Howe to make it our third hat trick at Spotland in the space of four games. Gut feeling was that it might just end up as an own goal.

So victory was assured, and Dale shift up to sixth place, with half an eye on where we might just end up finishing.

It was a game which looked in the bag for so long, and perhaps had it not been for a touch of sloppiness, we could have really done damage to the goal difference tallies. But that's picking holes for picking sake.

Let's just enjoy the well deserved win, and our play off place looking a little more secured, and let's do it all over again on Tuesday night.

Who's having the next hat trick then? 

Photo: Action Images

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