Rochdale returned to winning ways today with a good performance and victory over Scunthorpe United at home by winning 2-0. Match report and player ratings are now online

Rochdale got back to winning ways at San Spotlando this afternoon as they played host to Brian Laws' Scunthorpe United who before kickoff were lying one place outside the playoffs but goals from Leo Bertos and a re-taken penalty by on loan Ged Brannan meant that Dale got 3 points and bounced back up the table to 12th, 2 places behind Scunthorpe who dropped to 10th.

Rochdale welcomed back Neil Edwards in net who replaced Matt Gilks.  Dale also welcomed back the much missed Paul Connor up front who was back from suspension following his sending off at York.  The Dale team was as follows:  Neil Edwards in net, Wayne Evans and Michael Simpkins at full back, Griffiths and Burgess at centre half.  Leo Bertos on the right wing, Chris Shuker on the left wing with Brannan and McClare in the middle.  Paul Connor and Mickael Antoine-Curier were up front.

Scunthorpe has the slightly better start to the game and their first chance came from a Dale error.  Ged Brannan decided to play for Scunthorpe for a minute or so and passed directly to Scunthorpe's on loan striker Steve MacLean who's shot was saved by Neil Edwards.

Rochdale's first real chance came courtesy of Mickael Antoine-Curier as he got a shot in that was easily saved by Russell in net.  The chance was created by Paul Connor who gave Curier the ball with the most delightful of flicks and Curier should have done better.

Shortly after, Curier had Dale's next chance but unfortunately for him and the fans, his shot was well saved by Russell.

Scunthorpe were reduced to 10 men on 38 minutes when midfielder Richard Kell, was sent off for a late tackle on Sean McClare.  The Dale fans felt advantage should have been played as the ball that was played put Paul Connor almost one on one with the keeper but the Dale crowd weren't too gutted to see the red card appear from Mr Wright's pocket and it was a fair decision although the Scunthorpe fans didn't think so, poor them!  The somersaulting ex Man City left wing maestro Peter Beagrie picked up a yellow card for not keeping his trap shut about the decision!

The half ended goalless but Dale had a man advantage so hopes were high for the second half.

The second half was a poor affair and it didn't really get going until the last 20 minutes or so and the torrential rain and gale force winds had people shivering around me, wanting to go home, while I smiled at the fact I had the foresight to wear a jacket (or 2)!  and Spotland regulars were denied the chance to see Alan Buckley's legs for the first time this season, as he opted to wear long pants.

Mickael Antoine-Curier almost put the 11 men Dale ahead with 12 minutes to go as he met Ged Brannan's excellent cross and his header brought an excellent save from Sam Russell.  This certainly seemed to get the Dale fans into fine voice for the first time in the game and they were rewarded with a goal on 82 minutes as Leo Bertos shot from the edge of the box into the bottom left hand corner for his 3rd goal of the season and 4th of his career.

Dale began to push for another goal and they were rewarded in the 89th minute when Ged Brannan tucked away a penalty to make it 2-0 to Rochdale.  Mickael Antoine-Curier was being held back in the penalty box and the referee gave the penalty and it looked like Curier himself wanted to take it but Leo Bertos saw that he didn't and Leo took it.  Unfortunately the goalkeeper guessed right and kept it out with a good save but just as the Scunthorpe fans thought their luck might be on its way back, the referee blew up and ordered the penalty to be retaken.  Again it seemed like Curier wanted to take it but Ged Brannan ended up taking it and burying it into the left hand side of the net sending the keeper the wrong way.

This seemed to spark all sorts of crowd trouble with the away fans near the WMG stand with plenty of stewards on hand to try and sort it out although it didn't look too successful for the most of it with lots of punches being thrown.  Quite ridiculous really!

A good performance by Dale, rewarded with a return to winning ways and we now lie in 12th position.

Player Ratings:

Neil Edwards 7 Made a couple of decent saves but there wasn't a feeling of panic on passbacks!

Wayne Evans 8 Excellent today, made some goal saving interceptions

Michael Simpkins 6 Not too disastrous today.  Couple of decent passes

Gareth Griffiths 7 Played well, won most in the air against Torpey and made some good tackles

Daryl Burgess 7 Played well.  Some good tackles and headers

Leo Bertos 8 Very dangerous as usual, very good goal.

Chris Shuker 7 Played quite well.  Looked to break down the left a lot and looked quite dangerous.

Sean McClare 8 Excellent, he really looked good today.  Some good passes and he looked very comfortable on the ball.  My M.O.M

Ged Brannan 6 Poor again until the last 15 minutes when he played quite well but we play for 90 minutes, not 15!

Paul Connor 7 Played well, held the ball up well and his link up play with Curier was excellent to watch

Mickael Antoine-Curier 7 Impressive again, could have had a couple of goals

Photo: Action Images

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