As victories go, this was as comprehensive as it gets, and its not derby day bravado to suggest that the final scoreline could have been many more with only the heroics of Wayne Brown keeping it close to being a respectable scoreline.

Obviously, there were more hockey games taking place than we realised with the smallest away following that we've seen from Bury for a League game in recent years. But before we get all high and Bradford mighty about it, the home sections were far from full with perhaps a harsh reality that we're going to be seeing much smaller crowds this season than anticipated.

They say derby days are all about being brave. Well there was none braver than Dale boss Keith Hill with his team selection. Against arguably the club with the best forward line in the division, he took the decision to drop the experienced Nathan Stanton, opting to go with a central defensive pairing with just fourteen league starts between them and a combined age less than that of Efe Sodje. It was a decision which paid off handsomely.

The first half was pretty much a write off. It was rubbish and possibly one of the worst games of football you'll see at this level. You'd struggle to write a sentence over what went on in that first half, nevermind come up with the insightful, thoughtful, well written prose that we don't usually bother with in our match reports. Of course, we could pass it all off as a keenly fought battle where the defences came out on top, which would possibly be the most polite way of saying that neither side could come up with a shot between them during this half.

Honestly, nothing happened. Couple of corners here and there, the odd contentious foul, but nothing which would get either keeper involved. Both K. Arthur and S. Man must have been mentally spending their clean sheet bonus during the first half. It was never in danger. The only thing of note was a ridiculous dive by Bury's on loan striker Robertson, and it was only our advantage which prevented the official from taking him to task over it.

In fact, it took a few toys being chucked out of the pram by Bury's Mackenzie clad ranks to raise any interest levels, no doubt inspired by events at Upton Park during the week. I'm surprised they found anything to get so worked up about during this half. Perhaps it was jealousy about our Carbrini kits.

And then something happened. Half time changed everything. I have no idea whether it was a moment of tactical genius by Hilly, or whether Flicker did his Churchillian bit (and we don't mean the dog giving "OH YES"), but from a drab first half, we came out and ran the show from the first whistle to the last with what was the most one sided half seen for a long time. Even the opening seconds had more chances than the whole first half put together.

Clearly the first half was not the dour fest that it appeared to be. It was simply a case of us tiring out the aging Bury defence to allow us to run them ragged in the second half, and their usual faultless offside trap suddenly became penetrable.

Chris Dagnall was almost first to take advantage as we passed it around them to give Dagnall a one on one with Brown. It was the sort of chance that a fully confident Dagnall would have had for breakfast, but he found his effort well saved by Brown in the Shakers net.

The dominance was starting to show as the vast majority of the action took place in the Bury half, but there was a nagging doubt that we'd be made to pay for having all this possession in good areas without having anything to show for it. The phrase "walking it in" has been worryingly overused this season.

Fear not. Enter Joey T.

Now we all know that Thompson has had his doubters during his time at Dale, which is putting it mildly. But for me, his story is a fantastic one. There is something truly special about a young lad who is so local he even walks to training every day, and I'd be surprised if there's another example of that anywhere in the Football League.

So for that young lad to break into the first and scoring the winning goal in the derby match, well we may have more better known players at the club, but Joey T is the poster boy we should be pinning up in every school in the town.

The goal started with JT doing some defensive work. He lost the ball in front of the side where the Bury fans were but immediately won it back with a great tackle, and it was that tackle which sparked the move which gave Dale the lead.

It was Will Buckley who'd been quiet up until this point with good work down the left, crossing the ball in to Thompson who was lurking in the box. His shot took a deflection and whilst many were calling for a clear handball on the deflection, the ball nestled beautifully into the back of the net. 1-0 Dale and game on.

Aside from the usual two minute period we seem to have after scoring where we almost invite the opposition to get back on level terms, we kept it up and there was to be no settling for a 1-0 win. Certainly, Bury weren't going to be giving it up without a fight, and they changed their forward line up almost immediately with Bishop and Morrell coming on highlighting the squad that Knill has at his disposal.

Those changes made little difference as we kept on at them, and Will Buckley was starting to come into his own, and he almost waltzed the ball in at one point. With another one of his trademark runs, he went past the hapless defence like they weren't there, but it was again Brown's rearguard action that stopped Buckley scoring the goal of the season before August had finished.

But with the Bury defence visibly tiring, it was only going to be a case of waiting for the next chance to come along. And call me cruel, nasty, vindictive, almost a bully, but there's no funnier sight in football than a tall gangly central defender raising his arm in vain looking for an offside when he knows deep down that he's cocked up allowing his young opponent to go racing past him.

Dagnall was the one who took full advantage, and there was to be no mistake this time, and he dinked the ball into the back of the net. 2-0 game over.

And as we reached the last ten minutes, we made it 3-0. Paul Scott and Will Buckley came together in the box, with Buckley's over reaction winning the spot kick. Never a penalty in my book, and it put a dampener on my afternoon to see us take advantage in this way. Possibly.

The script was written. TK stepped up and despite the Bury defenders informing Wayne Brown that he was going to stick it in the top corner, stopping it going in there is a different matter altogether, and in trademark TK style, he produced possibly the most perfect penalty you will see at any level of the game. Absolutely unsaveable.

After after three years of abuse both on and off the field, who could blame Kennedy for racing the full length of the away end, with arms outstretched. It was too much for some with contenders for fat bloke of the year racing on to the pitch like they'd call last orders at the pie stand.

TK gets this stick every game, and perhaps the Bury fans were expecting TK to just start signing on after being released by the Shakers. How dare he join another football club. Besides, you can't blame a bloke for wanting to better himself and he has undoubtedly done that since joining Dale.

With time running out, there were rumours that Bury actually had a shot on goal, but this could not be confirmed.

A great second half performance by Dale, and whilst no doubt the likes of Joey T, Daggers, TK and Buckley were talked about long into the night, this game was as much about the unsung heroes. Chris O'Grady up front showed that there's a proper footballer inside him that we can take advantage of and we need to be convincing him that he could be the next in our production line of strikers.

The other Kennedy and Jonah in the middle had it all. Gutsy, strong in the tackle, and the centre of the park had their names written all over it, and the Bury midfield weren't quite as awesome as they've been hyped up to be. 400 games and eleven years in, but the boy Jonah's still got it.

But one final thought for Dawson and Holness. It was that bold decision which was for me the key to the victory. 19 and 20 they may be, but you'd have never known it as they were colossal at the back. Young Dawson was even whispered in the same sentence as Reeves after the game. Far too early for that sort of talk, but it's frightening to think that he's just a few weeks out of the Northern Premier League Division One with Radcliffe Borough.

Stanton and McArdle have spent the last two seasons as the first names on the team sheet. History and reputations will count for nothing from this point on. And to think we wanted to bring in Foster from Darlo to sort out the defence when the answers were already at the club. And that's why we manage on the messageboards only!

So a great day, a great performance and a great result. That'll do for me!