Dale 1 Swindon 0 - Cian Hayes is BACK

This was a classic case of the scoreline not necessarily reflecting the game, particularly following a rather hectic final twenty minutes.

Swindon came into the game struggling on several fronts - not only were they winless in three league games, but their injury list was somehow worse than our own.

Fourteen players were unavailable whilst Rochdale could thankfully welcome back one of last season’s stalwarts – Sam Beckwith was the eye-catching name on the bench following his hamstring injury.

Other personnel changes included Nils Ramming back in between the sticks for Sam Waller, perhaps unfortunate given his performance last weekend at Fleetwood, and Sam Sherring in for the suspended Tobi Adebayo-Rowling.

This saw a reshuffle in the back line, with Charlie Tasker moving across to left-back and Sherring stepping into the vacant right side.

This was a scrappy, toothless game with little in the way of chances for either side for the most part. Dale dominated the ball in the early exchanges, but Swindon looked vaguely more dangerous in attack.

Captain and dangerman Aaron Drinan fired wide in the 12th minute after Sherring had given the ball away cheaply, whilst man-mountain Aden Flint put in some heroic blocks to stop shots before they could trouble Ramming.

Dale looked most dangerous down the left-hand side, with Tasker in particular impressing to support Glenn Middleton.

Crosses on the whole led to nothing, other than a Flint header straight at Connor Ripley, which in turn brought questions; where were the goals going to come from?

Whilst looking comfortable in possession, there was no real urgency to our play and movement was limited.

Dajaune Brown was isolated, and too often through balls were played far too late or nowhere near where runs were being made – Wilson and Flint were particularly guilty of this, though Wilson did show exactly why he was in the team following a Swindon counter-attack, showing excellent pace in recovery to chase down his man and clear.

Our attacking output wasn’t helped by an injury to Jonny Smith - having been caught on the ankle following a quick counter, he went down shortly afterwards before being immediately withdrawn. Luke Hannant came on and struggled to make an impact.

Half time arrived with both keepers mostly untroubled - Dale did look solid, but the question of end product remained.

Just under ten minutes into the second half saw Swindon’s best opportunity by far and once again it was spearheaded by Drinan. His break down the left saw a good ball played across, though the flick at goal drew a smart save from Ramming, getting down quickly and, importantly, holding on.

That was as good as it got in terms of chances for the Robins, barring a spell of pressure on the Dale box a few minutes later, and the Dale keeper could more or less have sat down with a brew for the remainder of the game.

The 67th minute brought the unusual spark the game needed - after a slow period of build-up, Middleton managed to beat his man and drive into the box before firing across the six-yard box. Brown met it in the middle of the open goal, but it was agonisingly cleared off the line.

What was unusual was that the ball had been cleared by Brown himself. An opportunity that seemed harder to miss than score, when all that needed to happen was that it hit him and go in, was spurned.

However, the crowd responded and Dale burst into life.

Watson made changes as Mani Dieseruvwe and Cian Hayes joined the fray in place of Francis and Hannant, who could be seen to be unlucky having been subbed on and off again, but it was a brave and ultimately right call from the Dale manager.

The pressure was building and Dale did not take their foot off the gas, drawing excellent saves from Connor Ripley through Brown, Tasker and Sherring, and attacking again and again.

Hayes was the catalyst we needed, and it was his influence that saw Swindon reduced to ten men – a deserved second yellow for cynically hauling him down as he stood his man up before turning on the afterburners and flying down the wing.

Just as it was beginning to look like Dale would be unable to capitalise on their sudden spurt of opportunities, this scrappy game got the scrappy goal it deserved.

Once again, the chance came from the left and Middleton, who recycled a corner into a low cross into the box. Flint met it at the back post and completely scuffed his shot, which appeared to be heading well wide before that man Hayes reacted well to nod it past the helpless Ripley.

Swindon were floored and had to open up, which in turn led to multiple counter attacks from Dale. However, only one led to an opportunity, and Ripley again stood strong to deny Middleton.

It was an unusual game in that, up to the 67th minute, you could say that neither team did enough to win.

In the end, Dale were unlucky not to have been three or four up. Credit must go to Watson for making the changes when he did, and to the team for sticking to the game plan.

That makes it ten points from a possible twelve since the shellacking at home to Gillingham, and three clean sheets from four.

The team is starting to show the style of play Watson wants but as always, there will be tougher tests to come.