Rochdale beat Oxford again, this time at the Kassam Stadium, to make it three league wins on the bounce. It was a very one sided affair with a late goal deciding the game. Full report and player ratings are online.

Rochdale beat Oxford United for the second time in seven days, this time at the Kassam Stadium with a 1-0 win with just one minute of time left.

Steve Parkin opted to go with the same team that beat Oxford at Spotland in the FA Cup game with Gilks retaining his place in net ahead of a fully fit Neil Edwards and a back four of Evans, Goodall, Gallimore, Griffiths.  We had the familiar Jones, Clarke and Cooksey combination in midfield with the three man attack of Tait, Atieno and Holt.  On the bench were Edwards, Probets, Warner, Bertos and McGivern.

From the first whistle Dale looked like the only team in the game and that's really how it stayed throughout the game.  Dale had chances to go ahead early when Cooksey had a shot that was blocked by the defence and Holt got on the end of a super long pass by Jones by Tardiff made the save.

With just over twenty minutes gone, Ernie Cooksey had another good chance to put the visitors ahead.  Evans put in a cross from the right that was headed on by Jones and fell to Cooksey who seemed to get caught up in two minds whether to play a through ball or shoot, whatever his attempt was, it ended up well wide of the goal.

The next good chance of the game wasn't long after that and this time it fell to Holt.  An extremely impressive Alan Goodall played a good ball into the striker's feet, Holt turned his man excellently and shot from an angle but his shot went narrowly wide of the far post.

Atieno was struggling to get into the game and looked a yard or two behind the pace but it was the loanee who had Dale's next very good chance and he really should have done better.  He was at the back post and the ball found its way to him but he took too long over the shot and when he did shoot, Oxford had a man in to block it though there was more than a hint of handball.  The block however, only found it's way to Jones inside the area who had a clear shot at goal but he somehow managed to hit his effort over the crossbar.

The best chance of the game so far went to Holt with ten minutes to go before half time.  Goodall again played a great ball down the left which put Holt through and one on one with the keeper.  The ball was bouncing and Holt attempted to lob Tardiff but his effort went well wide of the far post.  I'm not a betting man but in that situation, I'd have put all my money on Holt scoring but he didn't and his confidence from then on didn't look great.  He knew he should have scored and his reaction following the miss told you that.

With half time closing in, Dale's leading marksman had another great chance to open the scoring.  He got on the end of Gary Jones' cross but couldn't keep his header down and it went over the bar.

Half time came and Dale supporters were left thinking "How the hell are we still level!?"

The second half was basically a case of more of the same though Oxford did play football for about five minutes of this half when Jamie Brooks came on.

Early on in the second half Atieno made what looked to be more of a very ambitious lob into a good chance as he managed to get a lob in from the edge of the box but his effort just went over the bar.

Oxford did manage a shot on target in the second half when Basham squeezed in a shot that trickled to Gilks and caused no problems whatsoever.  It was greeted by the home fans with the biggest sarcastic cheer possible followed by a chant of "We want two!"

Taiwo Atieno was replaced by Leo Bertos on the hour mark.  The Walsall loanee had looked the poorest of the Dale players and although he had two good chances, he looked off the pace and rarely put himself about.

Goodall was playing superbly at left back but he very nearly cost us a goal due to what I would describe as cockiness.  He was the last man in defence when the ball was played forward by Oxford and he tried an outrageous back heel when he was pressured by the Oxford player and messed it up.  However, the Scouse left back got back to make a superb recovering tackle.

We all thought the score was 1-0 when Leo Bertos shot with twenty minutes left on the clock.  He picked the ball up wide on the left and drove the ball goalwards and it looked to be sailing in the top corner but it missed by what must have been a matter of inches.

Paul Tait could have scored but he headed over the bar from a Jamie Clarke corner.

Shortly after that, Holt had another great chance.  He was put through again and he attempted to curl the ball past Tardiff but his effort went agonisingly wide of the far post.  Honestly, if he had taken all his chances, we would have had a bloody cricket score today and he would have about 18 goals for the season.

With just one minute of time to go, Dale FINALLY got what they deserved and made it 1-0.  A corner came in from Clarke and was only cleared as far as Tony Gallimore who was just inside the box.  He volleyed the ball goalwards but his effort hit the post.  Thankfully, the ball rebounded off the post, hit Tardiff on the head and went in the back of the net to the delight of the travelling Dale support.

The final whistle blew the Dale supporters went home happy with a third consecutive league win leaving Dale just three points off the playoffs and eight points off the relegation places.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 7 Had barely anything to do but what he did have to do he did well

Wayne Evans 7 Good game for Evo with his crossing and link-up play being very good

Alan Goodall 8 Excellent game though he is now suspended for the next game

Gareth Griffiths 7 Did very well in the air and made a couple of class tackles

Tony Gallimore 7 Very harsh not to credit him with the goal and he did well all game

Gary Jones 7 Started off slow but got much better as the game went on

JAMIE CLARKE 9 Awesome game and my M.O.M.  His passing was excellent and the space he creates with his turns etc is fabulous to watch.  What a find!

Ernie Cooksey 7 Good game for Ernie, certainly better in a midfield role rather than a wing position

Taiwo Atieno 5 Poor I thought.  Looked off the pace and very tired

Paul Tait 7 Good game for Tait.  He won headers, he controlled the ball well and did well

Grant Holt 7 Had so many chances to score it was unreal but he worked hard all game and did well

Sub:  

Leo Bertos 7 Looked lively when he came on a nearly scored himself

Photo: Action Images

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