Bristol R 1 - 2 Rochdale

Rochdale returned to winning ways after coming from behind to beat Bristol Rovers, a result that was crucial in the pursuit of promotion after all their promotion rivals also won. The early kick off in the South West gave Dale a head start but they fell behind against the run of play when Kaid Mohamed’s shot came back off the post and crept over the line. Joe Bunney levelled for Dale 40 seconds into the second half before Matt Lund won the game when he tapped home a Michael Rose cross.

After back to back defeats, the Rochdale manager made five changes to his starting 11, Peter Vincenti, Bastien Hery, Rhys Bennett, Jamie Allen and George Donnelly were given starts as Hill looked to reverse his side's fortunes.

After lacklustre performances in their last two outings, Dale started well and forced home keeper Steve Mildenhall into early saves.

Lund met a deep freekick but couldn’t beat Mildenhall, whilst the stopper was brave to block a powerful Vincenti volley from seven yards out.

Against the run of play, Bristol Rovers opened the scoring. A long ball over the Dale defence was picked up by Mohamed who raced away before poking the ball beyond Lillis. The ball then hit the inside of the post with Bennett trying in vain to stop it from crossing the line.

A head injury to Vincenti forced Hill into an early change with Bunney replacing him.

Ian Henderson crashed a shot off the post as Dale threw everything at their hosts and Bunney should have netted but fired wide when he found himself unmarked 12 yards out.

With Hill’s half time team talk fresh in their minds, Rochdale started the second half in the best possible way when Bunney levelled. A good piece of play between Allen and Donnelly ended with a perfectly weighted through ball for the substitute to fire past Mildenhall. The youngster’s celebration was very emotional after he learned his grandma had passed away whilst on the team coach down to Bristol.

The turnaround was completed just after the hour mark. Rose’s misplaced cross was flicked on by Donnelly to Lund who at the back post had the easiest of chances to tap in to make it 2-1.

Bennett flashed a header wide as Dale pushed to make the points safe but they couldn’t add to their tally.

Josh Lillis had to earn his wages late on firstly acrobatically tipping over a header from his own defender O’Connell whilst deep into stoppage time, a mêlée inside the Dale area ended with a header looping towards the top corner but somehow Lillis managed to claw the ball away.

The full time whistle was met with jubilant chants from the travelling Dale fans whilst the players celebrated on the pitch.

With just two games remaining, this victory has given Rochdale a glorious opportunity to gain automatic promotion.

8,158 (560 away)

Rochdale: Lillis, Rose, Bennett, Lancashire, O’Connell, Donnelly (Cummins 72), Lund, Allen (McGinty 90), Henderson, , Vincenti (Bunney 31, Hery)
Subs: (not used) Eastham, Thomson, Rafferty, Kennedy,

Bristol: Mildenhall, Lockyer, Parkes (Lucas 78), McChrystal (c), Brown, Clarke (Broghammer 65), O’Toole, Clucas, Mohamed, Clarkson (Harding 54), Harrold
Subs: (not used) Gough, Santos, Keary, Thomas

Referee: Mr D Whitestone
Assistant Referees: Mr J Clarke & Mr C Powell
Fourth official: Mr R Lewis