Scunthorpe United 3 - 0 Rochdale

Rochdale had the worst possible start to 2014 as they crashed to a 3-0 defeat and had Michael Rose sent off. Scunthorpe took the lead just short of the hour mark when David Syers fired home from outside the area. Rose was given a second yellow card for an innocuous looking challenge with 10 minutes to go and youngster Sam Winnall wrapped up the points with a quick fire brace soon after.

The weather for this top of the table clash was horrendous as a strong wind and driving rain was clearly going to play its part in proceedings.

With wind behind them, Rochdale were the better team in the first half with Matty Lund going close with a thunderous volley

Scunthorpe went close but were denied by a wonderful last gasp block by O’Connell whilst Burton flashed a volley wide.

Goalkeeper Sam Slocombe was the Scunthorpe's hero when he pulled off a world class save to deny Scott Hogan. Rose’ near post cross was headed at goal by the Dale striker but a one handed save by Slocombe kept the scores level at the break.

Scunthorpe had the wind behind them for the second period and they almost made that advantage count within seconds of the restart. Home leading scorer Winnall’s close range shot was beaten away by Josh Lillis.

It was a long ball forward that caught Dale out for the opening goal. A diagonal ball from the right picked out Winnall who picked out the run of Syers to drive the ball beyond the despairing dive of Lillis.

Rochdale were rattled by the goal and a huge mêlée on 65 minutes resulted in four yellow cards but it could have been worse for Dale. A foul by Scott Hogan saw the striker and Scunthorpe right back Christian Ribeiro squaring upto each other. Hogan appeared to put his head towards Ribeiro who dropped to the ground. Once the scuffles had settled down, Hogan, Cavanagh and Donnelly were all booked, as well as Ribeiro.

Lancashire entered the referee’s notebook after bringing down Winnall on the touchline with the home fans baying for further punishment from the officials.

Slocombe sealed his man-of-the match award with another wonder save with 12 minutes left on the clock. Another Rose cross for Cummins this time was perfect and the on loan man sent a firm header towards the top corner but Slocombe somehow stuck out a hand to divert the ball over the bar.

The major turning point of the game came with 10 minutes left. Home substitute Adelakun started a breakaway attack but seemed to be stopped in his tracks by Rose on the halfway line. Much to the amazement of many in the ground, the referee awarded a free-kick and deemed the challenge worthy of a second yellow card for the defender and sent him for an early bath.

As in the game at Spotland five weeks ago, Scunthorpe took full advantage of the numerical advantage and two goals in two minutes sealed the win. Winnall’s volley whistled into the top corner for his first whilst he stroked the ball home from inside the area soon after.

It wasn’t the start to the New Year that manager Keith Hill would have wanted but his side are still in the top seven. The major blow for Dale is that Rose will be missing for Saturday’s FA Cup third round clash with Leeds United at Spotland.

Rochdale: Lillis, Rafferty, O’Connell, Lancashire, Rose, Lund, Cavanagh (c)(Allen 70) Henderson, Vincenti (Donnelly 64), Hogan (Done 71), Cummins
Subs: (not used) Thomson, Bennett, Eastham, Hery

Scunthorpe: Slocombe, Ribeiro (Esajas 83), Nolan , McAllister, Mirfin, Canavan, Burton , Hawkridge (Adelakun 75),Williams, Syers (Collins 62), Winnall
Subs: (not used) Iwelumo, Severn, Waterfall, Sparrow, ,

Referee: Mr A Woolmer
Assistant Referees: Mr R Joyce & Mr D Street
Fourth Official: Mr D Ford