ROCHDALE 1, BLACKPOOL 0
Ollie Rathbone ensured the great escape from relegation in Sky Bet League One remains alive for relegation-threatened Rochdale after they dented Blackpool’s promotion bid.
The midfielder was Dale’s matchwinner as they made it three huge home wins in a week to remain in with a shout of survival.
The victories against Swindon Town, Accrington Stanley and high-flying Blackpool represent a remarkable upturn in their fortunes as before that hat-trick of successes they looked down and out.
Before the run of home victories, Dale had incredibly won only one of 19 league games at the Crown Oil Arena, but they have suddenly rediscovered the art of winning on home soil.
While they had plenty to celebrate, the dampener was wins for lowly Swindon Town, Northampton Town, AFC Wimbledon and Wigan Athletic as they remain five points from safety. They had been hoping to reduce the deficit.
Suddenly Dale has momentum behind them, though they will certainly need to maintain that and win three and possibly all four of their remaining fixtures to stay up, but they are certainly up for the fight.
A delighted Dale manager Brian Barry-Murphy said: “The win fills us with optimism and there is a feeling we are capable of doing some good things in the remainder of the season.
“We are getting the rewards for what we have been doing and I am really happy everyone can see the potential in the group.
“We see the lads getting rewards for what we have been doing. We are in amazing form and cannot wait for the next game.
“We have been written off from the start of the season when everyone has been calculating who will go down with Rochdale, but we are on an upward curve.”
In a match where precious points were at stake for clubs at either end of the table, it was tight opening half.
Dale had marginally the better of the chances as Seasiders’ goalkeeper Chris Maxwell made decent saves to deny Stephen Dooley and Conor Grant in quick succession.
Blackpool, meanwhile, fashioned only one decent opening when Daniel Ballard glanced a header wide from a corner.
While Dale edged the opening period, Blackpool addressed this with a renewed urgency from the restart.
Jerry Yates struck an upright within three minutes, quickly followed by Ellis Simms forcing a smart save from Jay Lynch.
Dale weathered the storm and snatched a 68th minute lead through midfielder Rathbone who cut inside from the left and bent a low shot into the far corner for his third goal of the season.
The celebrations that followed on the touchline with the management team underlined to spirit in the Dale camp.
And they had a great chance to double their advantage moments later when substitute Matty Done found himself clean through on goal after a failed clearance by Ballard only for him to falter in front of goal.
Dale defended resolutely in the latter stages without being unduly troubled as they picked up a win which keeps alive hopes of climbing out of the bottom four.