Rochdale 3 Grimsby Town 1

Rene Howe emerged as the hat trick hero, the third Dale striker to take home the match ball in the last 4 home games, as his team brushed aside 10 man Grimsby to move up to 6th place in the League.



Howe on as a substitute after Lee Thorpe picked a first half dead leg ,survived a half time ticking off from boss Keith Hill to double his Dale goal tally, his final goal coming with the last kick of the match ending a period of intense pressure from the visitors as they looked to snatch an unlikely point.

The early stages looked like promising an afternoon of frustration as first of all Thorpe and then Adam Rundle hit the same upright and then skipper Gary Jones saw his goal bound lob cleared off the line by Mariners defender Nick Fenton.

Thorpe was injured under a challenge from keeper Barnes just before Jones was denied and though he attempted to soldier on he had to be replaced.

Grimsby were then reduced to 10 men as striker Nathan Jarman received 2 yellow cards from fussy official Mr McDermid in a 6 minute period and apart from a mad five minutes at the death dismissal all but ended the game as a contest. Sandwiched between his bookings though Ciaran Toner saw his wickedly curling free kick from out on the left strike the crossbar.

The opening goal came 4 minutes into the 2nd half as Adam Rundle and Tom Kennedy combined superbly on the left, Rundle danced to the by line and produced an inch perfect cross for Howe to head home from close range.



Howe added a second on 57 minutes as fed by a diagonal Kennedy pass he raced away before firing a hard low shot from the edge of box into the net via the foot of the post.

Another substitute Adam Le Fondre then missed a glorious opportunity to add to his seasons tally as Dale produced a series of flowing moves and that miss might have proven costly. Out of the blue Alan Buckleys side pulled a late goal back as substitute Andy Taylor headed home and for a few minutes Dale were holding on for grim death.

The pressure was eased though as deep into time added on Howe turned, shot from the edge of the box and saw it squirm through the grasp of Barnes and nestle into the net.



A great win and a vital 3 points. Lets hope that more than 3000 people turn up on Tuesday as Keith Hill's young braves take on Notts County and look to really cement their top 7 place.

Rochdale
Lee,Ramsden,Kennedy,McArdle,Stanton,Muirhead,Jones,Perkins,Rundle,Thorpe,Higginbotham
Subs
LeFondre,Howe,Button,Basham,Holness

NB chris Dagnall has flu

Grimsby Town
Barnes, Clarke, Newy, Hunt,Bennett, Fenton,Toner,Boshell, Hegarty,Jarman, Butler

       
 former Dale man Jamie Clarke
Subs
Atkinson, Montgomerie, Taylor,Bird, Jones