The Youth Team made it 12 consecutive victories with a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Accrington Stanley.
First-half goals from Harrison Hopper and Neil Kuemo were enough to seal victory, despite the visitors pulling one back just before the break.
Dale dominated possession early on, with the first effort of the game coming from Florent Hoti, who had a low effort saved inside the opening ten minutes.
The opener came after just 16 minutes. Kuemo beat his man with ease on the left side, before picking out Fabio Tavares with a low ball across goal. His touch looked to be heading into the back of the net, but Hopper made certain by smashing over the line from a yard out.
Kuemo was causing the Stanley defence problems, beating a couple of defenders before seeing a shot well held.
Dan Adshead and Hoti fired efforts off target as Dale continued to dominate, and they got a well-deserved second nine minutes before half-time.
At one end, Brad Wade produced a tremendous stop to deny a Stanley effort when a corner was delivered to the back-post. Dale cleared, and within seconds had doubled their lead.
Kuemo chased down a weak back pass and went into a 50-50 challenge with the Stanley goalkeeper. He reacted quickest to the loose ball, clipping it back over the goalkeeper’s head and into the empty net.
The visitors halved the deficit three minutes before the break, when Dale failed to clear a corner. It fell kindly for the Accrington man, who turned home from six-yards out.
Louis White bent an effort just wide of the post after the break, as both teams struggled to create clear cut chances.
Lewis Bradley replaced Hopper midway through the half, and he found Tavares with a clever through ball inside the final 15 minutes, but the striker’s effort was turned around the near post.
Hoti and Tavares both fired efforts at the goalkeeper late on, but the visitors had the final effort of the game with an ambitious overhead kick which looped well over.
Dale held on, making it 12 wins in a row to move to within a point of league leaders Wigan Athletic, with two games in hand.