Dale 2 Oldham 0 - the long wait is over!

To be exact, it’s been pretty close to a decade since Rochdale were able to celebrate a home league victory over their nearest and dearest – until now.

Too often, we’ve seen Dale teams of the past fail to rise to occasions such as this, but the way in which this group did on Saturday will provide a huge injection of credit into the banks of both themselves and their manager Ian Watson, who has now managed something his predecessor Jim McNulty never did in giving the fans a derby win to savour.

Here are our key takeaways from the 2-0 victory at a bouncing Crown Oil Arena on Saturday lunchtime…

Was this the day on which the Ian Watson era truly started?

Only time will tell, but it felt like something of a departure from anything that has gone before.

The win over Shrewsbury was arguably a more convincing performance but on this occasion, the result really did matter and Dale delivered.

There is nothing like a derby victory to lift the mood of the fanbase and now, Watson has felt both ends of the spectrum on that front in his last two home fixtures – from being booed off and facing chants calling for his sacking against Gillingham to jubilant scenes now.

And it may not just be “lift-off” for the manager, either, as certain players signalled their intent to really get their season off the ground.

Harvey Gilmour was a colossus in midfield as he so often was in the National League – the energetic heartbeat of the team in a very pleasing return to form.

For Dajaune Brown to get off the mark as confidently as he did in dispatching the killer second goal will also give him huge confidence – he largely fed off scraps, but the way in which he took the one chance that came his way repaid Watson’s faith in starting him over Mani Dieseruvwe in the lone striker role.

Rochdale started this game superbly, getting the ball successfully through the thirds and out to their wide men, allowing for Glenn Middleton and in particular Jonny Smith to cause problems.

They were rewarded with a superbly-taken goal from Dan Moss and for the first 15 minutes or so, they played with confidence and freedom.

However, the chaos that has underpinned Dale’s start to the season then took over and they were very fortunate to keep their lead, with Oldham striker Mike Fondop missing the sitter of all sitters when Nils Ramming’s dithering on the ball presented him with an open goal.

Kane Drummond also scuffed a rebound wide when Ramming had tipped his shot onto the post and then, early in the second half, Callum Cavanagh somehow failed to get anything on a ball fizzed across the face of Ramming’s goal.

The on-loan Brighton keeper was damned if he did, damned if he didn’t – having had his fingers burnt for the Fondop chance, Oldham cleaned up anything that went long and it felt like a matter of time until the Latics got back on level terms.

However, both Dale and Ramming deserve credit for restoring calm, aided by Brown’s goal that seemed to take all the life out of Oldham.

From thereon, the goalkeeper was authoritative when balls came into his box while the defence – once again expertly marshalled by Aden Flint – proved impregnable.

From the moment Brown’s shot hit the net, the result never felt in any danger.

Is it possible for Dan Moss to be more loved by Rochdale fans?

Amid a start to the season that has seen plenty of players criticised, the versatile utility man has been rightly exempt and as such, there could have been no more fitting a goalscorer on this day of all days than him.

And what a finish it was, too – one of a seasoned centre-forward as he took just two touches to control and unleash a superb finish from a well-worked set-piece.

It was Moss that spoke before the game about finding the balance between leaning into the occasion and remaining calm within it, and he certainly led by example.

He was already a well-liked member of the squad among fans, but the first few weeks of this campaign have seen that popularity sky-rocket.

It’s probably too soon to say, but they have got themselves moving at the very least.

And the bare essentials are that their form since the turn of the month would be more than acceptable in anybody’s book – their four September games have yielded two wins and a draw, with clean sheets in all of them.

Obviously, the elephant in the room is the calamitous defeat to Gillingham within that, which is probably stopping Dale fans from being anything more than cautiously optimistic.

Still, that is better than they were feeling a fortnight ago – after the Gillingham game, it was widely theorised that four points from the next two games were needed to buy Watson some grace among the fanbase.

Mission accomplished, now they need to take it on because the opportunity is there for them to drag themselves up the table.