A lot of ghosts were exorcised as Dale battered Orient 4-1 at their own place, and without a shadow of a doubt, the result flattered the previously 100% Leyton Orient side. Full report now online.

To understand what this result meant, then you have to have suffered. This result was not about 90 minutes of football which happened to take place on Saturday 20th August 2005.  This was for the 8-0 hammering, for years without not even scoring at Brisbane Road, for Rob Styles and for every single miserable trip down to Orient and those long silent journeys home after each annual hammering at Orient. Today was payback time.

And that it most certainly was, as from the first kick off, we bossed the game. We were absolutely all over Orient and at no stage did we ever relent. In terms of the quality of the performance, it was most certainly the best display during Parkin's second spell in charge at the club. Best display since......? One for the messageboard, but get your thinking caps on.

Within the first fifteen minutes of the game, we had already launched fatwahs against the referee who turned down two of the most clear penalties you have ever seen. The first saw Rickie Lambert act as some sort of climbing frame approximately two feet from where the referee was standing. But the second was so obvious, most people didn't even bother appealing. It was just a case of looking towards Gary Jones to see him pick the ball up ready for the penalty.

It came about via Grant Holt proving once again that there is no better striker in this division, and it's no wonder that referees are queuing up to be able to claim "I've booked Grant Holt". With back to goal, he was looking to turn but was just thrown to the ground. It was like one of the school pile ons and I was half expecting the rest of the Orient players to go and jump on top of him. Somehow, the official proved that his promotion from the Conference is akin to Boston United's.

But that penalty claim proved to work in our favour. Clearly the defender that he had used his get out of jail free card in that first challenge, and when Grant Holt found himself in an identical position, with the same defender behind him. No mistake this time, as he turned with ease and finished with ease.

However, there was a negative to all of this. It seems the classic sliding on the knees celebration has been replaced by what looks like Grant Holt doing the birdie song, which was attempted at Shrewsbury and given a full airing at Brisbane Road. Answers on a postcard please.....

Five minutes later, it was game over. We got a free kick outside of the box.....

Okay, at this point you have to ask whether Orient had done any scouting on us whatsoever. Furthermore, you have to ask whether Glyn Garner owns a television. For if either of those were the case, then they'd have known full well where Rickie Lambert's free kick was going to end up. Comical.

The best way of describing the free kick is to say that it was very much like last week's free kick only further out, It must have been a full thirty yards and Garner got nowhere near it. Maybe the Daleworld commentator didn't make a mistake when he said he'd remember last week's goal for a "number of games".

And we all know that the Soccer AM "Easy" hand clap thing is getting done far too easy now. There were even some doing it at Shrewsbury when we went 1-0 up, but such things were invented for days like today.

Now to be fair to the home side, this launched their best period of the game, and they could well have grabbed a goal back. It was clear we weren't up against a poor side, and had they snatched one back at this stage during the game, then we'd have had a different game altogether.

They came close, with their best opportunity coming when Jon Boardman was forced to clear off the line, though it had transpired that the referee had already blown his whistle.

But it could have been even more for Dale. Grant Holt was put through, and he arguably had too much time, and it was only a great last ditch tackle by Zackuni (I think) which stopped the great one grabbing his second.

Half time talks suggested quite understandably that the game could now go one of two ways. Either we blow it and allow Orient back into the game, or we manage to hold on to our lead. Battering Orient further in the second half didn't seem to be an option. How wrong we were.

The second half was pretty much like the last 15 minutes of the first half. The home side had plenty of possession and threatened to threaten but looked about as deadly as a daisy chain. Gary Alexander looked a very different player who was so highly rated earlier in his career, and Tudor showed why Cambridge went down.

The home side had a switch in tactics and went 3 up front in the sixtieth minute and for a while it looked capable of making a difference to the extent where it looked like changes of our own would be required to maintain our lead. Us of little faith.

Grant Holt had almost identical chance to the one he had late in the first half, where Zackuni produced a stunning late tackle to temporarily ease Garner's shame.

But it was only respite. Rickie Lambert was put through down the right hand side, and with the whole world willing and expecting him to cross it over to Grant Holt who couldn't have had more space had he stood in the Cemetery End on your average Saturday, Lambert produced a little shimmy, beat his man and fired the ball underneath the hapless Garner.

The delight of this goal was clear for all to see, and I've not seen Parkin show so much positive reaction on the bench before. He like every one else did this was the final nail in Orient's coffin. Certainly, at the stage the Orient fans knew and responded by doing the Wigan Walk, and we waved them goodbye on their way.

Five minutes later, and we'd hammered them. Lambert and Goodall combined well, and our left back was clean through and as with every other goal, Garner had no chance. 4-0 and you'd be hard pushed to find a bad goal amongst the lot of them.

Bizarrely, we found ourselves waving goodbye to the same fans that we'd waved goodbye to after the third. Listen Norden boy, if you're going to go, then just go

A minute later, and apparently Orient scored with a tap in on the line. It mattered little and not even the most pessimistic supporter could see this as a comeback. However, the Orient tannoy man clearly found this goal to be the eighth wonder of the world with the enthusiasm that he announced this goal to the few remaining O's fans!

It was keep ball after this, and the only downside to the entire day was Grant Holt's booking for trying to score, having not heard the referee's whistle. He made up for it minutes later by taking the longest amount of time ever to come off the field when subbed. Half expected him to shake the hand of every player on both sides on his way off.

As the minutes ticked away, Jamie Clarke proved himself to be better than Lee Trundle with a bit of showboating rolling the ball behind his neck making Tudor look even more stupid than he had done himself throughout the rest of the game.

And so the ghosts were indeed exorcised. We hammered them and they knew it, and it could have been so many more than just the four. A great day out, and one which will live long in the memory. No other team anywhere could have enjoyed this as much as we did.

Photo: Action Images

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