Rochdale FC

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• Founded:1907
• Manager:Keith Hill

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Dale too strong for Shrimps

28 Dec 2009 - 17:53:15

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Rochdale maintained their seven-point lead at the top of the League Two table with a 4-1 victory over Morecambe at Spotland.

Chris O'Grady and Chris Dagnall scored in the first half before a Will Atkinson second-half brace. The Shrimps found the net through Wayne Curtis in the 84th minute.

Bournemouth kept up the pressure on Dale with a dramatic comeback at Dean Court. Scott Rendell put visitors Torquay 1-0 up in the 63rd minute before goals from Liam Feeney and Brett Pitman from the penalty spot deep in injury time shocked the Gulls into defeat.

Bury proved their resilience in a 4-2 win over Accrington Stanley. The home side opened the scoring through Michael Symes before goals from Michael Jones then Andy Morrell propelled the visitors into the lead.

Sean McConville's first senior goal restored parity but a second from Morrell and a Ryan Lowe injury-time strike gave the Shakers the points.

Barnet failed to end their torrid recent form as they played out a goalless draw with Northampton. The Bees are now without a win in nine in the league and Dean Sinclair's sending-off in the 59th minute severely restricted their hopes of scoring in this match.

An entertaining clash at Valley Parade saw Shrewsbury run out 3-1 winners over Bradford.

Despite James Hanson's 20th-minute strike, the Shrews found themselves 2-1 up at half-time thanks to Kevin McIntyre and Terry Dunfield, and also a man up as Matthew Clarke was sent off at the break.

Dave Hibbert then took advantage of this numerical advantage in the second period to guarantee his side all three points.

A Lee Hughes hat-trick was the deciding factor between Burton Albion and Notts County, as he scored three times between the 45th and 53rd minutes.

Earlier Steve Kabba had briefly restored parity for the home side after Richard Ravenhill's opener before Hughes put the game beyond Burton and settled the score at 4-1.

Cheltenham ran out 2-0 winners over Dagenham & Redbridge thanks to goals from Justin Richards and Josh Low.

Grimsby made it 15 league outings without a win after a 2-1 defeat at home to Port Vale. First-half goals from Sean Rigg and Robert Taylor put the game beyond the Mariners.

Keith Alexander led his side to back-to-back home league wins for the first time this season with a comprehensive win over Crewe.

Macclesfield had the perfect start as Ben Wright gave them an early lead after only four minutes before goals from Paul Bolland and Colin Daniel put them 3-0 up before the half-hour mark.

Calvin Zola pulled one back for Crewe in the 64th minute, but Ricky Sappleton's injury-time effort completed the scoring.