Dale's fine run of form continued as we win 3-0 against a very good Barnet side in tonight's pre-play off match.

Keith Hill opted with just the one change to his starting line up tonight with Ben Muirhead being dropped to the bench in place of Adam Le Fondre.

It was the usual 4-4-2 we expect from Dale with Kallum Higginbotham taking on the right wing role that he’s used to at Spotland. 

Lee 

Ramsden McArdle Stanton Kennedy 

Higginbotham Jones Perkins Rundle 

Howe Le Fondre 

As the manager had already stated in the build up to tonight’s game, Barnet would be a side that come to Spotland to play football, and they certainly did.

Both sides made positive starts to the game with Dale testing Barnet’s offside trap on multiple occasions. 

However, the first opportunity was to fall to the head of Adam Birchall, who never really looked like scoring, with his weak header going straight at Lee who deflected the ball into the path of Nathan Stanton, leaving him with the simple task of clearing the ball. 

Soon after Keith Hill decided it was time to make a tactical substitution with Marcus Holness coming on for Simon Ramsden, unless Ramsden was injured of course. 

And seconds after, Le Fondre cut in from the left and hit a curling effort from 25 yards out which Lee Harrison matched with a decent save. Not bad considering that Harrison has had back problems recently. 

Dale were starting to look the more dangerous at this point, breaking with every opportunity. Whilst Barnet’s strikers failed to even strike the ball cleanly, which probably had a lot to do with McArdle having them all in his pocket. 

Either way, Barnet gave a way a free-kick, which Dale took full advantage of, with Howe knocking the ball down for Gary Jones, who put Le Fondre through, with the striker slotting the ball past Harrison for his 16^th goal of the season. 

The free flowing football continued after the goal with Dale seemingly enjoying the opportunity to play a side that played a similar game to what we’re good at. A stark contrast to Dagenham, last Saturday, who were a more physical team. 

Not to say that Barnet weren’t a physical side, as they got away with quite a few over the top challenges during the match. With the taking out of Tom Kennedy near the dug outs being a perfect example. 

Half time came with everyone seeming quite impressed by both side’s efforts so far. In fact it’d be difficult to pick out a player who didn’t impress in the first 45 with Rory McArdle, Adam Rundle and Gary Jones sticking out for me to name but three. 

The one Barnet player that stood out most for me at this point was Jordan Parkes, who is on loan at Underhill from Barnet. The left back seemed to get forward at any opportunity he could. 

Rochdale came started the second half with the clear intention of killing the game off.

And we took a step closer to that with, the man of the second half, Adam Rundle unlocking Barnet’s defence with a lovely weighted through ball into the box which Gary Jones met.  

The captain, unlike Barnet’s defence, had noted that Rene Howe was unmarked on the far post, and the striker took his time to hammer home the ball into Harrison’s left corner to send everyone, excluding the 68 travelling supporters, into the usual mental celebrations we’re becoming used to. 

It would seem harsh to say Barnet had conceded defeat at this point, but for the remainder of the match they resorted to snap shots or long range efforts, excluding the last five minutes. 

But before that point, Dale still had a second half to enjoy, as they looked to hurt Barnet with Harrison getting lucky on a couple of occasions with le Fondre not quite getting the ball out from under his feet in front of goal soon enough. 

Rene Howe also came close as he smashed another effort into the side of Harrison’s net, as Dale looked for a third. 

And the third finally arrived on the 72^nd minute with Adam Rundle taking the piss out of the Barnet’s right flank, setting Howe free to drive into Barnet’s box, setting up Higginbotham who tapped home for his third goal of the season. 

Adam Le Fondre was replaced by Chris Dagnall after 75 minutes, with the ex County striker receiving a standing ovation from all three sides of Spotland as he left the pitch. 

Perkins received a similar reaction from Rochdale’s faithful on 82^nd minute as he was replaced by Chris Basham.

And the utility man from Bolton came close to creating a fourth for Rochdale as he coolly rounded Barnet’s goalkeeper, only to lose the ball after all the hard work was done. 

The game seemed to peter out from then with the only real efforts after that coming from Barnet, with Lee earning his clean sheet with two excellent saves to keep them out of the game. 

All in all it was a superb effort and a cracking match to watch as Dale deserved all three points at Spotland tonight. 

Match Ratings:

Tommy Lee 8 – No dodgy moments tonight, fully deserved clean sheet. 

Simon Ramsden 7 – Must have been injured when Holness replaced him. 

McArdle 9 – The Wall was easily my Man of the Match tonight, nothing got past him. 

Stanton 7 – The usual high standard performance we expect from Stanton. 

Kennedy 7 – The usual high standard performance we expect from Kennedy. 

Higginbotham 8 – Couldn’t miss tonight, always improving and picking up form at the right time. 

Jones 8 – Excellent pass to set up Rene Howe’s goal. 

Perkins 7 – The usual high standards we expect from Perkins. 

Rundle 9 – He’s been on excellent form recently and added Barnet’s right back to the list of many players he’s terrorised this season. 

Howe 8 – Took his goal well, another good performance by the loanee. 

Le Fondre 8 – Like Howe, he took his goal well, and they both deserve to lead the line against Morecambe on Saturday. 

Substitutes: 

Holness 7 - Filled in well in Ramsden’s absence. 

Dagnall 6 – Didn’t really do much after replacing Le Fondre, but the job was already done. 

Basham 6 – Unlucky after rounding Lee Harrison late on, didn’t really have enough time to impress.

Photo: Action Images

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