Dale continued to prove that whilst ramshackle it might be, but Bristol's Memorial Ground is fast becoming a favourite trip for Dale supporters as we picked up another away win as we made the long journey down to the M5. Full report now online.

With kick off brought forward so that the locals could head home and watch England take on the Argies, it meant that the game was played in the glorious Bristol sunshine with no need for floodlights and many Dale supporters were forced to watch the game with hands protecting eyes from the sun.

The afternoon started with a bit of a rip off from our hosts. Rovers had announced in advance of the game that Dale fans were to be housed in the stand behind the goal and that tickets had to be purchased on the day. Entry into the ground saw Dale supporters enter the familiar side terrace with the option of transferring to the stand behind the goal if we wished. A quick calculation suggests that we were charged £2.50 more than we should have been. Good job we won then!

The first half? Oh it was dire. An awful game which never got going. If we had one of those % things that they use on Sky to show what areas that the game was being played in, they'd have had to use decimals to indicate any sort of play in attacking areas, with both linesmen acting as sweepers on the off chance of their being any attacks.

Indeed, there was very little to report at all from this half and midway through I had to enquire whether there had been any shots at all. Apparently Rovers had a header which never really troubled Gilks.

And then the breakthrough came. Lee Cartwright, who had a fine game throughout, was put clear with a one on one with their keeper. From my expert view of 80 odd yards away, it looked like Cartwright had been pushed a little wide by their keeper, and he went down whilst trying to get past him. Initial thoughts were that he'd won the penalty rather than the Rovers keeper Shearer giving us the penalty, though Lincoln manager Keith Alexander confirmed.......

And so up stepped Holty. Now it was only a few days since Holt was doing an interview on Talksport going on about how he had never missed a penalty. Talk about setting yourself up to fail. But Holty is bigger than that, and he had no problems finishing past Scott Shearer in the Rovers goal. Cue Chicken Dance.

So with three defeats in our previous three matches, this should have given us the confidence to play the way we can do, but unfortunately we decided that the penalty decision clearly wasn't a worthy one, so therefore we allowed the home side to equalise at the earliest opportunity.

The goal came from some sloppy passing from Jamie Clarke which blighted much of his first half. The ball was given away too easily, and Rovers just passed the ball through our side putting Agogo clean through with only Gilks to beat which he did with ease.

The goal gave Rovers a lift, and they had their best spell of the game as a result. But as was typical of much of the game, they had possession, and they had chances, but nothing really troubled us.

Half time came, and clearly the TV cameras from the Championship were worried about getting any footage at all for their Sunday morning show so decided to film some fat kid doing ball tricks which had the Dale subs halt their half time kick about to watch. All very good son, but have you ever kissed a girl?

The second half began that little bit earlier for us. Our players were sent out five minutes earlier than their Rovers counterparts and some pre-match routines were done at half time as we attempted to put a bit more zip into our play. It worked.

Second half came, and we stepped up a gear, leaving Rovers still in neutral, and it was a second half showing which we were clearly on top and ultimately saw us finish the game as worthy winners out of the two sides.

Right from the off we had more about is and whilst we didn't really bombard the Rovers goal, we had a succession of half chances that we really should have done more with. With Holty the big marked man attracting all the attention of every defender in the Bristol side, it freed up Blair Sturrock who had acres of space.

In one such chance, he broke clear of the Rovers backline, and had his shot saved well by Shearer but Cartwright blasted the rebound wide when he had an open goal in front of him. It wasn't an easy chance for Cartwright as he had to stretch for the ball, but he certainly had time to take a touch and finish calmly.

But the goal which proved to be the winner wasn't long off. Cartwright broke down the wing, and crossed from the right. With Holt lurking menacingly in the box, Sturrock nipped in to touch it home from close range to give us the lead again.

It was a lead that we should have increased. The Rovers defence decided that the best way to mark the day was to grab hold of Grant Holt's shirt. Fair enough, had I been playing against Ronaldihno I'd look to swap shirts with him at the end, but these defenders tried ripping the shirt off Holty's back midgame. By the time he was subbed off, his sleeves were down to his knees.

Now all of this took place in their box and we should have been awarded at least one further penalty but the referee Singh who probably had his best game that has involved us (hardly setting standards high I know) was reluctant to give us another penalty even though the evidence was pretty clear cut.

And so the rest of the game was played out, safe in the knowledge that the points were heading back to Rochdale. There was the odd little scramble in our box which wasn't helped by Grant Holt sprawled out on the floor, but the result was never in doubt at this stage.

So in the end, a deserved win, even if it was did come from a performance which wasn't always as convincing as it could have been. There were good displays from individuals who haven't always shone this season, such as Jaszczun and Cartwright.

It was certainly not a showing that will have you racing down the bookies to stake your mortgage on Dale securing promotion, but it was certainly the scrappy sort of win that those teams who get promoted seem to pick up along the way. Poor teams like Bristol still need to be beaten.

Photo: Action Images

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