Rochdale beat top of the league Yeovil Town 2-1 at Spotland after going 1-0 down in the second half. A very late match report is online with player ratings included.

Dale managed to get only their second home win of the season and it came against Yeovil of all teams.  Yeovil went into the game as the league leaders and looked to be staying top after going 1-0 up in the second half.  Rochdale showed great bouncebackability though and managed to get back into the game and take the points with a 2-1 victory.

Rochdale went with a 4-5-1 formation with Neil Edwards in net, a back four of Wayne Evans, Tony Gallimore, Daryl Burgess and Gareth Griffiths.  We had a five man midfield with Leo Bertos, Ernie Cooksey, Paul Weller, Scott Warner and skipper Gary Jones.  Grant Holt was up front on his own.  Matt Gilks, Jamie Clarke, Ashley Probets, Paul Tait and Leighton McGivern were on the substitutes bench.

The Dale fans were enraged at Yeovil goalkeeper Chris Weale who went down in agony despite being hardly touched.  He was to get quite a bit of stick for the remainder of the game.

The game started off as a lively affair and both teams looked to attack.  Dale broke forward through Wayne Evans who got in a shot from distance but as predicted, his shot went well over the bar.

Gary Jones was next to try for Dale as he picked up the ball more than 20 yards out before smashing it towards goal.  The ball beat Chris Weale but not the crossbar unfortunately for the Dale faithful and it remained 0-0.

The woodwork was struck again soon after and it was the home side again who had the effort.  Tony Gallimore crossed in from a corner and the ball eventually reached Grant Holt who headed against the crossbar.

Darren Way had a decent chance for the visitors midway through the first half when he received the ball after a good attacking move but his shot was hit straight at Neil Edwards.

With the first half almost over, Yeovil nearly took the lead through former Everton striker Phil Jevons but his effort was very well saved by Neil Edwards.  Like in recent games, Dale had the better chances but Yeovil were looking very dangerous when they broke forward.

The first half came to an end and the game was still 0-0.

The second half started off brilliantly for the visitors who took the lead just 3 minutes into the second half when a simple long ball proved to be deadly as Jevons made the most of it and ended up curling his short into the far corner to make it 1-0 to Yeovil.

Dale looked a beaten team from that point until Steve Parkin changed the system back to a 4-4-2 on the hour as Paul Tait replaced Ernie Cooksey who hadn't had the best of games and Paul Weller moved out to the wing.  Weller had had a very good home debut with his passing being of the highest quality.  I only remember him giving the ball away once.

Just 8 minutes after the change of system and Rochdale were level.  A magnificent cross by Paul Weller was met by Grant Holt who leapt like a salmon to head the ball past Weale and into the far corner.  The goal made it 1-1 and it took Grant Holt's goal tally to 7 for the season so far.

Some of the fans were giving Paul Tait some severe criticism and I really could see why when he had an awesome chance to give Dale the lead.  Tait found himself one on one with the keeper after he turned his defender and he had all the time in the world but he hit the ball straight at the keeper.  It really was a sitter that he missed and one that Wayne Evans would probably have scored!!

He had another good chance minutes later when he was put through again but as he shot, a defender came in to block his shot.

Gareth Griffiths was replaced following an injury and was replaced by Jamie Clarke.

Rochdale managed to take the lead on 82 minutes and the goalscorer Grant Holt turned provider for this goal.  He picked the ball up on the edge of the area and laid it off to Gary Jones who smashed the ball past Weale to make it 2-1 to Rochdale.

Grant Holt picked up his fifth booking of the season and will serve a one match suspension this Saturday but to be fair, it was a booking that was very petty to say the least.  Paul Tait was also cautioned but I still have no idea why.  Leo Bertos picked up a booking when he went in dangerously on a Yeovil player.  It could have been a worse fate for the Kiwi who was quite lucky.

Dale had to endure the pressure and they did although the referee did all he could to see that we didn't.  There were four minutes stoppage time added but there was never that much deserved and most of the stadium were fuming with the decision.  Not only that but he played about a minute over the time indicated. 

Rochdale did manage to hold out for the win which now sees us go up the table to 18th but we go into next weeks game without Grant Holt.

The night was made even better with a quality night watching the Clone Roses.  Not a bad day overall really!

Player Ratings:

Neil Edwards 7 Made a couple of good saves to keep us in the game

Wayne Evans 7 Defended well against a very lively attack and even got forward

Tony Gallimore 7 His passing was good and he was solid in defence

Daryl Burgess 6 Got caught out a couple of times but wasn't bad

Gareth Griffiths 7 Did well until he went off holding his back

Leo Bertos 6 Worked harder than he has done for most of the season but still didn't look as dangerous as we know he can be

Ernie Cooksey 6 Worked hard and provided an outlet on the wing but he doesn't like crossing making me think he isn't keen on playing wide

Scott Warner 7 Got some good tackles in and his long range passing was impressive

Paul Weller 8 Excellent home debut.  Only gave the ball away once with a long ball and other than that, his passing was superb.  Great cross for our equaliser as well

Gary Jones 8 A very good performance was topped off with a super strike to win the game for the Dale

GRANT HOLT 8 Get better and better.  He gave the ball away a bit in the first half but second half he was fantastic and gets my M.O.M.  His goals are absolutely vital. 

Subs:  

Paul Tait 6 Missed an absolute sitter but caused the defence a few problems

Jamie Clarke 7 Did well when he came on.  Looks very handy in that centre back role

Photo: Action Images

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