Dale went into the match with a couple of enforced changes. Damon Searle was still refused permission by Carlisle to play, and Tony Ellis and Chris Bettney were both ineligible to play because they signed after the original match. As a result, there was a recall for Michael Holt who missed the Torquay trip with an ankle injury, and for Jason Peake who replaced Dave Flitcroft in midfield. There was also a long awaited comeback for Dave Bayliss whose injury lay off coincided with the start of our season's decline. Also, in the warm up before the game was Graham Lancashire training and a certain Alan Johnson who is reportedly 4 weeks away from first team contention.

The game started in perfect style. Dale took the game to their non league opponents and immediately put them under early pressure, and it paid off. Clive Platt was involved with the build up before the ball went out to the left hand side. The ball was crossed over, before being knocked over to Clive Platt at the far post who calmly slotted the ball into the back of the net at the WMG end of the crowd.

This gave Dale the confidence they needed and they were soon playing the sort of football we were seeing earlier in the season. People were smiling on the terraces and all of a sudden it was August all over again (except for no sunshine!). Dale were knocking the ball about with ease, and pressing for a second goal. It looked like it was just a matter of time before the second goal arrived, but it never did.

All of a sudden, Dale took the foot off the pedal, and it nearly cost them. They allowed Burton back into the match. Passes were going astray with Jason Peake and Dean Stokes the main culprits. Burton took advantage of this, and had several chances to get an equaliser. Striker Dale Anderson came close to putting the Brewers on level terms. He was through in the box, and had a clear shot on goal, but he put his shot into the side netting. Their best chance also came at this time when they had an overhead kick which Edwards managed to tip over the crossbar.

The tie was over as a contest just five minutes into the second half, when Dale scored their first goal at the Sandy Lane end of the ground since Andy Morris's hat trick against Chester back in April. Dale were on the attack, and Jason Peake had the ball on the edge of the box. With options limited, he struck a weak shot at the keeper. The Father Ted lookalike completely cocked it up and spilled the ball into the back of the net.

After that, it was a case of Dale sitting on their lead and making sure they did nothing stupid. They had several chances to increase their lead, but most were thwarted by the linesman's flag who made one or two dodgy decisions.

Dale were awarded an indirect free kick from what was judged a back pass by the referee. Holt was running through onto a ball, but was tackled just inside the box. As it usually the case, he went down, but when the referee announced that Holt was tackled, Holt then appealed for the back pass which the referee had no option to give. Not if he hadn't noticed that the ball had come off Holt last of all. The free kick came to nothing.

Three substitutions were made late on in the game, with Julian Dowe's introduction for Michael Holt, proving to be the crucial one. Dowe got the ball five yards outside the Burton box. He then rifled the ball into the top corner giving the Irish Priest between Albion's sticks little chance whatsoever.

Overall, it was a victory, and that was the important thing. Burton are a good side, on the back of a recent impressive record. They played some good football and were unlucky not to have scored late in the first half. Had they scored then, it would have been a very difficult second half. Fortunately, we got the goals at the right times. It wasn't perfect, but it is another step in the right direction. And more importantly we scored. The current goal drought stands at seven minutes.

Dale: Edwards, Evans, Stokes, Bayliss, Monington, Ford (Flitcroft), Jones, Peake (Carden), Atkinson, Platt, Holt (Dowe). 

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