Rochdale 4 Accrington Stanley 1

4:30pm Sunday 16th March 2008

Comments (0)   Have your say »

ACCRINGTON Stanley crashed to a 4-1 defeat away at local rivals Rochdale, despite taking the lead.

The Reds looked comfortable in the first half and were heading for an interval lead following Shaun Whalley's individual goal on 33 minutes.

But on the stroke of half-time, Dale were given a dubious penalty when Jay Harris was adjudged to have brought down Gary Jones.

And hat-trick hero Adam le Fondre stuck away the spot kick.

It all went downhill from there for Stanley in the second half.

Jones smashed Dale into the lead on 48 minutes and le Fondre made it three on 65 minutes.

Stanley failed to make any real inroads to reduce the deficit, and, with seven minutes to go, le Fondre completed his treble following a swift counter-attack.