Northampton Town 0 - 3 Rochdale

Rochdale climbed to the top of Sky Bet League Two after this comprehensive victory over relegation threatened Northampton Town.

Ian Henderson’s scuffed finish set Dale on the road to victory with Matty Lund doubling the lead 10 minutes into the second half. Lund was then shown a second yellow card for over celebrating his goal, meaning Dale playing out the last 35 minutes with 10 men.

Joe Bunney put the icing on the cake for Dale with a powerful finish just after the hour mark.

Knowing victory could send them top, Dale set about the task of unpicking the Northampton defence from the start.

A deep Joe Rafferty free kick was flicked on by Peter Vincenti to Henderson who sent a scruffy shot beyond Duke to open the scoring.

The football was certainly being played by Rochdale with Northampton resorting to the long ball game that the Dale backline dealt with comfortably.

Vincenti had Dale's best chance in the remaining minutes but shot weakly at Duke.

Dale secured the points in the opening 20 minutes of the second half; but at a cost. Vincenti’s clipped ball into the area was perfect for Lund whose bullet header doubled the lead but during the celebrations referee Heywood deemed his contact with the Dale fans too excessive and brandished a second yellow card earning the midfielder an early bath.

Even with the man advantage, Northampton showed little of an attacking threat as Dale extended their advantage further. With Nrothampton trying to get back in the game, Henderson cut out a cross field ball and launched a swift counter attack. With Northampton short in numbers, Henderson fed Bunney who made no mistake from just inside the area to fire Dale’s third.

Northampton rarely threatened and even when they managed to breech the Dale defence, Lillis was comfortable with what they threw at him.

Henderson will feel he should have got on the score sheet again when he fired wide from a great position, whilst Vincenti went agonisingly close to extending the lead when he hit the inside of the post with an angled shot.

The remainder of the game was played out with little drama and with news coming in that Chesterfield had lost at Plymouth, the travelling Dale support started their celebrations at seeing their side climb to the top of the table with nine games to go.

Attendance: 3,695 (181 away)

Rochdale: Lillis, Rafferty, Eastham, O’Connell, Done, Cavanagh (c), Henderson, Bunney (Donnelly 77) , Lund, Allen, Vincenti,
Subs: (not used) Thomson, Bennett, Tanser , Kennedy, Porter, Cummins,

Northampton: Duke, McSweeney, Kouo-Doumbe, Diamond (Dickenson 46), Robertson (Toney 78), Hackett, Ravenhill (c), Carter, Morris, Connell (Lopez 62), Sinclair
Subs: (not used) Snedker, Tozer, Deegan, Moyo,

Referee: Mr M Heywood
Assistant Referee: Mr N Radford & Mr G Taylor
Fourth Official: Mr R Ellis