Visitors Barnet had a couple of well known names in their side. The word veteran was clearly invented for the likes of Gary Breen, Micah Hyde and Paul Furlong, with the latter of those pensionable trio more than double the age of three of our own side.

Barnet also included within their ranks what appeared to be a supporter who must have won a competition on their official website to be a footballer for the day. The lucky winner Ryan was given a spot on the bench and even came on within the opening ten minutes. That could be the only explanation.

On paper, this was our toughest home game of the season so far. Barnet began the game in fourth place, with a couple of away wins to their name. But we certainly stepped up to the task and it brought out the very best of ourselves with another sterling performance.

With a settled side, we were at it from the opening second, playing with possibly a bit more tempo than normal against another side renowned for playing good football.

But we clearly had the edge, and a bit more purpose too and we were rewarded for this after about ten minutes with Chris Dagnall getting his seventh goal of the season.

Dagnall was just five years old when Gary Breen made his professional debut and that gulf in ages was very much apparent when Daggers left him for dead breaking free from the Barnet backline.

In doing so, he managed to allow himself room to take it past the keeper before firing home. The unofficial goalscoring battle between Alfie and Dagnall is going to go to the wire.

And we kept at it. There was no lapse in concentration, which sometimes follows our own scoring. We seemed intent on going in for the kill, and from an attacking point of view, we were causing Barnet all sorts of grief, and with better finishing we'd have had them pleading for mercy.

They offered little in response, though Kenny Arthur had to be on best form to keep Furlong out when he finally avoided the wrath of the linesman.

But a minute or two later, we had the game wrapped up when we awarded a spot kick. WIll Buckley had gone on one of those runs and he found it impossible to physically run through the remaining Barnet defenders, and referee Webster had no hesitation in giving us a penalty.

TK stepped up and for a change decided not to stick it in the top corner, opting for the bottom corner instead. The keeper guessed the right way but got nowhere near it giving TK his third goal of the season, with a much more restrained celebration than his last one.

That penalty brought an end to what must compare with any half of football we have played all season. It was great stuff by Dale and whilst the scoreline possibly suggested otherwise, it was a half that brought sufficient good chances for us to have declared on that half time whistle. "I'll be disappointed if we don't grab five" I muttered after that penalty went it. I don't half get carried away at times.

But it had been a display which could have brought significantly more goals than it did, with the Bees only really having one attack of any note. Make no mistake, there'll be a side this season who get absolutely torn to pieces by us.

Not only had we looked so good going forward, we looked as comfortable as I've seen us in a while at the back. Every sense of danger from Barnet brought immediate glances to the linesman for the expected offside flag.

The second half continued where the first left off, with Dale continuing to look completely comfortable against a hard working side. Indeed, I have no doubts that this was a Barnet performance which on the whole would have gained them something against most opponents at this level. It certainly wasn't a case of us looking good against poor opponents.

One of my favourite moments of the game came courtesy of great pressing by Dale. Barnet were passing the ball along the backline from touchline to touchine but couldn't release it due to our forwards acting as a superb first line of defence. Eventually, they were forced into a mistake passing the ball straight out.

We almost then scored what you could argue was the perfect goal. It started off with great skills from Chris O'Grady, with a couple of touches which must surely be deemed illegal for football at the fourth tier, such was their class. Break free, he passed the ball through to Dagnall who foxed the home defence by laying it off for Jonah, and it took a superb save from Bees keeper Cole to keep out our captain's low drive. Completely unfair of the Barnet player with the dodgy barnet to prevent us scoring there.

Whispers around the ground of "Bring Flicker on" accompanied Barnet's second substitution when Albert Jarrett came on, as memories of Flicker's cameo against Gillingham came flooding back.

He almost turned the game with his first touch when he let fly from a free kick which caused all sorts of bother rebounding off the woodwork, before we cleared in an uncalm and uncollected manner.

His introduction sparked an upturn in Barnet, and his post bound effort wasn't the only moment of concern that they caused us as they looked like getting a foothold back in the game, with Furlong showing that 41 he may be, but he's still very much a threat at this level.

And then the true translation of Crede Signo happened: if there's a hard way of doing something, then we'll do it that way. And so we did by letting Barnet back into the game by conceding with six minutes to go.

In fairness to the Bees, it was an excellent goal. A corner was taken from the Main Stand / WMG corner and sub Jake Hyde nipped in to divert it to the top corner.

Panic stations amongst the supporters at this stage, and also those smug smiles at the news of Bury blowing a two goal lead at home were suddenly getting ready to bite us on the arse, with the ultimate retribution from the Footballing Gods.

But it is to our credit that for the remaining eleven minutes of the game, we didn't give the Bees a single chance to get on level terms. They had a lot of possession, and got into good areas at times but when we were being asked arguably our toughest question of the season, we answered in great style by not giving them a sniff of a chance in the six minutes of normal time, four of added time and the bonus Fergie time.

And if anything, we probably looked the more likely to add to our tally during this time. The Bees keeper was possibly lucky to remain on the pitch when he floored Chris Dagnall as he raced out of the box, with possibly only the offences proximity to the touchline keeping the bleached one with just a yellow.

Chris O'Grady was given a chance to finish things off when intending to take the ball towards the corner flag, it was just too tempting to make a run, and after beating a man or two by the touchline, but his cross ended fruitless.

But whilst our goal wasn't threatened, the final whistle from referee Webster (who again had another good game at Spotland) proved to be much appreciated amongst the Dale support, with the fifth win in six games being achieved taking us back into fourth place.

Ignoring the late scare, this was another very good showing by Dale. Actually include in those last few minutes, as they proved that we've got a little bit of everything in this side. No shortage of skill, purpose, endeavour and a huge pair of cahoonas shown for when push came to shove late on. And you don't win anything without them.