Two penalties in the last few minutes ensured that both teams left the field with a point as four goals were shared out at multiweathered Spotland.

There were a few changes for Dale. Stanton was recalled from his yellow card enforced exile on the bench, replacing Simon Ramsden, Dagnall was up front ahead of Alfie who's knock at Chesterfield saw him relegated to the bench, Toner replaced the suspended Clark Keltie and Will Buckley was given his first start since his Bradford masterclass. The change in personnel also saw a change in tactics as we adopted what seemed like a 4-3-3 formation, with Rundle almost given a free role in that midfield three.

The early stages of the game saw the main chances coming from two free kicks.

The first came from what was to be the first of several wrong decisions by the referee, when a free kick was awarded to the Grecians just outside of the Dale box. An excellent free kick was put in, hitting the inside of the post giving Fielding no chance, but fortunately it rebounded out. It looked all set to be knocked in as it landed smack bang at the feet on one of the visitors but Tom Kennedy produced without doubt the tackle of the season to knock it out for a corner. A goal saving challenge if ever you saw one.

And TK almost came close to giving us the lead down the other end. We had a free kick given for something I can't remember. Proper reporting at RochdaleAFC.com, make no mistake. Anyway, TK's free kick was tipped away well by their keeper as it looked to dip just underneath the bar.

But it was that save from the free kick which led to Dale taking the lead. The ball came over and was headed goalwards by Rory McArdle. It wasn't the most threatening header of all time but it was more than enough to put Lee Thorpe in who got his Alien Head on the end of it to nudge it in to give Dale the lead.

Following the goal, we reverted back to our more comfortable 4-4-2 and played out best football of the game. For this time alone, we seemed to play lots of nice triangles and other stuff straight from the training ground, and we really controlled the game for perhaps the only time in the game. That said, we didn't look like adding to our advantage during this period.

We were much delayed coming out to the second half, having spent a good few minutes longer in the dressing room than our Grecian visitors did who took advantage by a few warm up routines. But it was Dale who had the opening assault of the second period when Nathan Stanton suddenly thought he was Gary Jones.

Picking the ball up in his own half, the field just opened up for him and he was able to run in a direct line to the Exeter goal mouth. A proper Moses and the Red Sea moment as none of the Devonians came anywhere near him till he must have got to the stage of wondering whether there was a chance of him adding to his goal total of one from almost four hundred career appearances.

But he rightly opted to put Lee Thorpe through, but Thorpe was unable to double his total as he slid the ball wide, with my good self being the only person in the entire ground thinking that it took a touch off a defender on the way.

That missed opportunity came back to bite us on the backside as within seconds the visitors were on level terms. A great cross from the left hand side was met perfectly by Stewart who's header came off McArdle before ending up in the back of the net. There was talk of handball by Stewart in this, and it was certainly claimed so by Dale keeper Fielding, but I must confess that I didn't see anything myself.

That goal provided great impetus to the away side, and from that point on, it was they who looked the more likely to snatch victory from the game. Their hard working style allowed them to wrestle control of the game away from us but perhaps a little like ourselves in the first half, they couldn't convert being on top into real chances. There were one or two scary moments which looked like something might develop but Fielding remained largely unchallenged.

Their best opportunity saw the referee come to Dale's rescue as when a great passing move was brought back for an Exeter free kick when they had possibly the best advantage you could ever have, with a clear run on the Dale goal looming large.

With around twenty minutes to go, leading scorer Alfie was brought off the subs bench for Dale replacing Chris Dagnall, and it certainly gave us a lift, with Exeter putting the ball out for around a million throw ins every time their backline saw the football.

But just when the game was having a final score of 1-1 written all over it, a passage of good play from ourselves saw us regain the lead. Will Buckley broke into the box, and when pushed wide and seemingly heading nowhere, a needless challenge by the defender with the world's longest name saw a penalty awarded.

Alfie's spot kick was saved easily by the Exeter version of "Jones 27" as he shot straight at him but he rebounded perfectly for our leading scorer and he knocked the rebound away to give Dale the lead and the promotion bandwagon had found a new gear.

And then we pressed the self destruct button.

Much as has been discussed, certainly after the Chesterfield game in midweek, to drop Nathan Stanton from the side to "protect" him from a tenth yellow card and the two game ban which accompanies it. Today showed just why that decision was taken, as the popular defender had a "lost the plot" moment.

Just seconds after we'd taken the lead, Stanton went flying in to a challenge on the once hotly tipped Stuart Fleetwood. Common sense indicates that a referee is always likely to even up the penalty count, so don't give him the opportunity to do so, but there wasn't even a shred of doubt that a penalty would be given the challenge. 

As Fielding faced the spot kick, he was almost sombre in comparison to how he was when he faced Reuben Reid a couple of weeks ago, and the former Premiership marksmen Marcus Stewart just slotted it past him with ease to make it level peggings.

But the Stanton show was not finished as another needless challenge gave the referee the easiest decision in the world. Yellow card for the man wearing the captain's armband and a two match ban at the most crucial time of the season.

The last few minutes were probably the most lively of the entire game as both sides showed that there might have been a later winner in it, but following two minutes of additional time, the referee brought proceedings to an end to what was a fair result between the sides.

Neither side will look back on this game as being their best performance of the season, though equally they'll see it as an opportunity missed. However the point was enough to ensure that Dale stopped in the top three and will travel to Bournemouth next weekend knowing that remaining in the top three will be in our own hands.

Photo: Action Images

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