Dale coasted to an away win at Chester with the goals coming from Jones, Holt and Lambert sending us back into the automatic promotion places in League Two. An outbreak of war could see the Leagues halted, and promotion secured already. or maybe not. read on for full report.

Phew!!! That'll be three points thank you very much, goodnight Chester City.

This was a superb game from start to finish, and if every game in this division was as good as this, then it seems we will have found the antidote to the current Premiership boredom factor. This was entertainment and value for money (even if they did make me pay full price the cheeky barstewards!).

Okay on with the report. Turning up at the Deva Stadium, it was clear this was going to be a big crowd, and one that they seem ill equipped to handle. I'm all for clubs cutting their cloth accordingly at this level, but keeping so few turnstiles open was amateurish, and gave the illusion that half the western world had made it to Chester for some sort of pilgrimage. And they couldn't all be Dale supporters, could they?

Entry into the Deva revealed that the queues were justified as I've not seen the place as packed for this. So packed was it that the tannoy man came out with the most patronising "Well Done Chester" later on to congratulate people on getting off their backsides and coming to watch their local side. And the away end looked like it had about 5000 travelling Dale supporters in it till I remembered it only holds about 1400 and looks packed with three men and a dog in there. As proved by the recent Chester v bury fixture. Anyway, this was the first time that the travelling army were quite justified in coming out with "What's it like to see a crowd?"

Anyway, the first half. We got run ragged. Chester were head and shoulders the best team that we've played all season and completely dandruff free in the process. They looked to have everything that you could want in a football side. Great attacking play, trickery and complete entertainment. All that was missing was a decent defence and someone who could score goals. (nowt important like?)

Well that's not quite right, because they did have someone who could score goals in the form of striker Greg Blundell (no relation to Chris) but he was responsible for the game's first talking point. He chased through a ball over the top. Realising that if Griffiths couldn't win the challenge, then Blundell would have a clear run at goal, keeper Gilks came out and challenged for it.

Now the team you support will determine how you saw the incident. There was nothing malicious on Gilks' part, but in his attempt to clear the ball (and its debatable whether he made any contact), he floored Blundell. As I said, there was never any malice on Gilks part but Blundell was left in a crumpled heap on the floor which had the game held up for about five minutes (how was there only three minutes of added time?) where about 35 different brief case wearing people came on to the pitch to inspect the striker.

Now red card or not? Well you see them given. And had it not been the fifth minute, it could have gone against Gilks. But by the time he made contact with Blundell, there were two Dale defenders behind him in the form of two members of the G-Unit in Griffiths and Gallimore. Anyway, a yellow card was produced, and Gilks produced a decent save from the free kick.

And from this moment, Chester seemed to turn the screw. And we spent the rest of the half camped in our own half. I wouldn't saw they had many out and out chances, but there was about 47 different scrambles in our own box, and the heart was in the person stood next to you's mouth at this point. Their best chance came when Ben Davies slammed a shot onto the cross bar and it bounced down meaning the away end united to give a girly little whimper as we thought we'd be down to 1-0. Or that it might just have been me.

But there is a cliché often used in RL circles about when you dominate so much, you have to take advantage or otherwise, the opposition will take great heart from it. And this was the case at the Deva. With time running out in the first half, Rickie Lambert broke into the box after receiving the ball from Tomm Y, and attracted the attention of three or four defenders, one of whom is known to guest star in those "you buy one, you get one free" adverts for double glazing. Out of those defenders, one at least should have kept an eye out for Gary Jones who received the ball from Lambert on the edge of the box and sidefooted it home in such a way that Jonah has come to make his own. 1-0 and of course there wasn't a hint of irony about those easy chants.

Half time came and went without much happening. There was a pitch, but no man on it, and no one went home rich.

Second half, and the plan was simple. Keep it tight for the first few minutes, and then coast to an easy win. Best laid plans and all that. It went downhill went Jaszscun picked up a hamstring injury when chasing a ball which was heading out of play. It was a shame for Jaszczun as he was having his best game for the club and we had been exceptional down that left hand side. Within five minutes, we had conceded two goals down that wing.

Both goals were pretty much identical in their build up. Attacks down their right wing, cut to the dead ball line before pulling it back to someone on the edge of the six yard box. There was a touch of luck about both as the first stemmed from a free kick given against Lambert for nothing, whilst the second saw the ball pulled back to their player who collapsed, touching it back to the crosser in the process who scored with ease. The goals were scored by Drummond and Davies, though I am sure like me you weren't interested in that.

Now from now on, it could have been massacre time. Had CCFC played like they had in the first, then they could have walked it easily. But we had time wasting and a sense of play which suggested they were quite happy to stick with 2-1. Well cheers Chester, and it allowed us to re-gather and for the first time start dictating the play, and it isn't an exaggeration to say that when we did, they couldn't live with us.

Our first opportunity came when Gary Jones had a rasping shot superbly saved by their keeper when it looked a goal all the way bringing more girly whimpers from your writer. But we didn't have to wait too much longer before we were back on level terms.

There were some around me who had said that Grant Holt was quiet. Now I'd have said that was an impossibility. Grant Holt could be tied up and gagged, with a bag over his head, then locked in a empty room having had his tongue ripped out, and he still couldn't be quiet if he tried. Good job. A Goodall cross was met with a limp wrist rather than a punch by their keeper Mackenzie falling to Holty at the edge of the box who simply knocked the ball into the back of the net to score a most unlike Holt goal. They all count and its double figures for the season already. The stattos were wondering on the way home whether this was the quickest time for any Dale player to reach 10 goals for the season.

Now a 2-2 draw would have been a great result and matched my pre-match prediction but there was no way this game was ever going to finish 2-2 and on the balance of play, there was only one team who was going to win at this stage. But there was only one team going to score in the first half and they didn't.

And it was home grown Scott Warner who came close to winning it for us, as he continues to prove wrong all the doubters. The first came when he blocked a clearance from their keeper only to have the referee blow for a ridiculous handball, whilst the second saw him almost knock it in at the back post. Only a suicidal clearance by David Artell prevented it going in. Well done Artell for putting himself on the line for the sake of saving a goal, and it proved to be his final act in the game that we ended up winning away.

Ten minutes to go, and Chester went for the win by bringing on former Dale player Leo Bertos who got a great reception from the massed ranks at the industrial estate side to the ground (as opposed to the other 3 industrial estate sides to the ground). However, Bertos introduction merely reinforced the decision to let him go. A bit unfair given he only had ten minutes, but the expected outcome of Leo scoring against his former side couldn't have been further from the truth. Good luck Leo and thanks for the memories.

And the winner? Oh so sweet. The ever quiet Grant Holt did his usual bit of getting in a shot from a nothing position which was well saved by the Chester keeper but it trickled to Rickie Lambert at the back post who had more time on his hands than Mark Ward and he finished with ease. And for the first time in my life, I stopped hating those Easy arm waving chants and the Chester types headed for the exits.

The last few minutes showed incredibly intelligent football by Dale and at no point did we ever look in any danger, with the three points already waiting on the team coach whilst saw out the same number of minutes of injury time that were given in the first half. Was it really ever in any doubt whatsoever?

The final whistle came, amid much celebrations in the away end and on the pitch. A huge victory and one which bizarrely was accompanied by War of the Worlds over the Tannoy.

This was a fantastic win and we once again showed that up against the high fliers in this division we are more than a match for them. Do not be clouded by the first half fortune or controversy over the Gilks incident. We showed guts throughout, we stood up to promotion favourites in their own backyard, looked adversity in the face and came out of it with flying colours. A very proud evening that saw us answer so many questions.

Match ratings:

I don't do match ratings.

Photo: Action Images

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