Rochdale finally managed to pick up a win to end their awful recent run. A 3-1 win away at Torquay was a very welcome sight to the 112 travelling Dale fans. Full match report and player ratings online now.

Hallelujah, thank god for that, we've won a game.  It's taken us eight games, but the horrible run we find ourselves on has come to an end.  After not winning a match since the end of November, a little over a hundred Rochdale fans went to Torquay to see Rochdale pick up three invaluable points with a 3-1 victory.

Since we last won, man has walked on the moon, Nelson Mandela has been released from prison, David Hasslehoff was responsible for bringing the Berlin Wall down, Paul Tait scored for Rochdale and Neil Brisco did something worth mentioning, at least it seems that long ago.  We can all breath a huge sigh of relief for the time being at least.

After numerous calls to revert back to 4-4-2, Parkin finally agreed and changed the system.  Ernie Cooksey came into the side in the place of Blair Sturrock who was dropped to the bench.  The Dale team was:  Gilks, Brown, Griffiths, McArdle, Goodall, Cartwright, Doolan, Jones, Cooksey, Dagnall and Lambert.  On the bench were:  Boardman, Gallimore, Warner, Moyo Modise and Sturrock.

Dale started off really well and had some excellent chances within the first few minutes.  Lambert put Chris Dagnall through and the new Dale number 9 forced Marriott into a couple of very good saves.

Matt Gilks was also called into action a few times as the Dale defence still looked shaky.  Gilks has come in for a lot of criticism this season after a series of mistakes and apparently has requested a move away from the club but last night he was pretty much faultless and pulled off some marvellous saves.  He somehow managed to claw away an effort from Tony Bedeau when it looked like it was going in from close range.  He was called into action again shortly after that with Bedeau going close again.

With nearly half an hour gone Rochdale took the lead through Chris Dagnall.  John Doolan started the move with a fabulous pass inside to Jones who broke from midfield down the wing before crossing to the near post where Daggers was there to finish past Marriott for his first ever Rochdale goal.

Sgt Gilko pulled off another fantastic save, this time from Woods who won a header too easily from a free kick but Gilks was on hand to push it away.

Gary Brown picked up an injury and was replaced by Scott Warner at right back.

Rochdale managed to go in at half time 1-0 up but I was still predicting that we'd only come away with a point.  I was told to have more faith and for once, the person who told me was spot on.  Torquay made a change and brought the absolutely huge Sako on and he looked completely different to the player that played up at Spotland earlier in the season.  He actually looked good when he came on.

With just a couple of minutes gone in the second half, Rochdale doubled their lead and a vital goal it was too.  Rickie Lambert put Gary Jones through with an excellent ball and Jones was one on one with Marriott.  Jones managed to finishing under the advancing keeper to make it 2-0.  Pandemonium in the away stand as the Dale players celebrated with the travelling faithful.

The Torquay substitute was on hand to get one back for the Gulls as he headed past Gilks with just less than an hour gone to make it 2-1.  Even at 2-1 it looked like we'd finally be getting our first win in god knows how long.

Marriott was receiving some stick from the Rochdale supporters after his poor effort for Jones' goal and he did himself no favours whatsoever when Rickie Lambert blasted one past him with twenty five minutes left.  The shot didn't look to move that much in the air and Marriott just misjudged it severely and dived well too far and the ball ended up down the centre of the net.  The two goal lead was restored and this was definitely going to be our night now.

Blair Sturrock came on for Chris Dagnall who went off to a good reception after an excellent game and getting his first goal for the club.  Hopefully, the first of many.  Sturrock came on and looked superb in the short time he was on creating a few chances and getting the better of the Torquay defence.

The game finished 3-1 and the run of bad results and performances was finally over and you could sense the feeling of relief in the fans and the players at the end of the game.

More of the same please boys.

Player Ratings:

MATT GILKS 8 Some tremendous saves and rarely looked in any sort of danger, excellent performance Gilko.

Gary Brown 6 Went off injured in the first half but did alright until then

Alan Goodall 8 Excellent performance from Goodall, looked a class above anything Torquay had.  Really looked a player who was worthy of playing higher than League 2

Gareth Griffiths 7 Excellent in the air and we looked solid again with him in defence

Rory McArdle 6 Not awful but a lot of the Torquay chances in the first half came about because Bedeau had McArdle in his pocket. 

Lee Cartwright 7 Battled hard and in fact caused some problems for the Gulls defence.  Good performance

Gary Jones 7 Fairly poor in the first half (assist for first goal excepted) but excellent in the second and got an overdue goal

John Doolan 8 Looks a signing and a half to me.  Huge part in the Daggers goal and looked excellent throughout even getting the skills out late on

Ernie Cooksey 7 Battling performance from Ernie who looked much improved

Rickie Lambert 7 Very good performance, looked a lot more determined than of late and he too got an overdue goal

Chris Dagnall 7 Was a handful for their defence and scored his first ever goal for Dale.

Subs:  

Scott Warner 7 Came on as right back for Gary Brown and was very impressive there as well

Blair Sturrock 7 Not on long but what we did see was excellent

Photo: Action Images

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