Rochdale and Charlton Athletic shared the spoils in a six goal thriller at the Crown Oil Arena in a 3-3 draw.
Niall Canavan put Dale ahead inside four minutes, before Jordan Botaka equalised shortly before the break.
Jorge Teixeira’s goal midway through the second half saw the visitors take the lead, but that was short lived as Calvin Andrew headed Dale level three minutes later.
When Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s curling effort found the back of the net it looked as though Dale would take all three points, only for Teixeira to equalise with two minutes remaining to rescue a point for The
Addicks in an entertaining encounter.
Callum Camps returned to the starting line-up as skipper, whilst Donal McDermott made his first start since September. They replaced Harrison McGahey and Ollie Rathbone.
Keith Hill’s side came flying out of the blocks and were ahead inside four minutes. McDermott’s free-kick from the left wing was dropped by goalkeeper Declan Rudd under a challenge from his own defender Ezri Konsa, providing Canavan with the simple task or prodding the ball over the line from a yard out.
Dale were close to doubling the advantage just two minutes later, from another set piece. Joe Thompson’s header was cleared off the line, with the ball ricocheting off Calvin Andrew and into the arms of Rudd.
Josh Magennis was playing on the shoulders of the Dale defence and forced Ben Wilson into a comfortable save with a weak effort, before breaking through again moments later. This time his one-on-one effort was saved by the legs of Wilson, after he had closed the striker down quickly.
Dale created a number of chances during a dominant spell in the middle of the half, but were denied by some fine saves from Rudd. McDermott let fly from outside of the area after being found by Joe Rafferty, but his dipping effort was acrobatically turned over the crossbar by the Charlton goalkeeper.
The resulting corner was cleared only as far as Callum Camps, whose fizzing effort was well held by Rudd, before he denied Andrew in fine style five minutes later.
Jamie Allen’s free-kick was floated perfectly onto Andrew’s head, who directed the ball back across goal. The header looked destined for the far corner, but Rudd’s diving save to his left turned the ball around the post.
Ian Henderson and McDermott sent further efforts off target as Dale pushed for a second, but it was the visitors who grabbed the next goal and hauled themselves level four minutes before half-time.
Magennis’ flick on found Botaka, who was clean through on goal. His effort cannoned back off the inside of the post, but perfectly back into his path to allow him to slot home the rebound through a number of sliding Dale bodies.
The second period started slowly compared to the first, with substitute Teixeira curling an effort wide after a corner had fallen kindly for him.
Reuben Noble-Lazarus replaced Mark Kitching just before the hour mark, and sent a rasping drive narrowly over from 35 yards.
Rathbone replaced McDermott with Dale’s second sub, but it was a Charlton substitute who almost produced a wonder goal. Stephy Mavididi picked up the ball in his own half and set off on a mesmerising run which saw him break clean through on goal, but Wilson stayed big and saved with his chest.
However, from the resulting corner the visitors took the lead through Teixeira. Patrick Bauer headed the corner back across goal, where Teixeira glanced the ball over the line despite the efforts of Wilson.
Bauer won another header from a corner two minutes later, but his effort bounced up and over the crossbar.
It was a missed chance he would rue, as Hill’s men responded brilliantly and equalised with 20 minutes remaining. Henderson’s cross from the left was inch perfect for Andrew at the back post, to nod the ball past Rudd in front of the Sandy Lane end of the ground.
It set the game up for a grandstand finish, and that is exactly what it got. Mendez-Laing replaced Thompson with Dale’s final sub, and just a minute later Andrew came inches away from putting Dale ahead.
He broke through on goal down the right channel and curled a left foot effort past Rudd, only to be denied by the crossbar.
With their next effort though, Dale regained the lead. Mendez-Laing played the ball wide to Henderson, who returned it back to the Dale substitute. He opened his body on the edge of the area and curled the ball past Rudd into the far corner.
It looked as though that was to be the winning goal, but there was still another twist in the tail as Charlton equalised with two minutes remaining. Bauer won the header from another corner, and in almost a carbon copy of their second goal, Teixeira turned the ball over the line from close range.
Dale pushed on for a fourth and match-winning goal, but couldn’t carve out another opportunity in the four minutes of added time, as the spoils were shared at the Crown Oil Arena.