The Youth Team recorded a resounding 7-0 win over Port Vale in the EFL Youth Alliance League on Wednesday.
Fabio Tavares and Joe Renner put Dale two goals to the good at the break, before three goals in three second-half minutes took the game away from the visitors.
Neil Kuemo made it 3-0, before Tavares sealed his hat-trick with two quickfire goals.
Florent Hoti and Lewis Bradley rounded off the scoring, as Dale move level on points with Wigan Athletic at the top of the table.
Dale started brightly, with Hoti sending a curling effort off target before having a well-struck effort turned over the bar by the Vale goalkeeper.
It was the Dale stopper who denied the visitors taking the lead midway through the opening period, making a double save, both with his legs, to deny an effort from inside the area and the following rebound.
They proved to be important stops, as Dale broke the deadlock just three minutes later.
Aaron Morley intercepted a long ball forward and found Harrison Hopper, who played a ball into the feet of Tavares. He rounded his marker before rifling an effort into the top corner.
The striker could have added a second six minutes later. After being found by Hoti, he stepped inside a defender, but fired over from 12-yards.
Tavares had another chance well blocked after a superb dribble into the area by Luke Matheson, with Hoti’s follow-up blocked behind for a corner.
And it was from the resulting set-piece that Dale doubled their lead. Morley’s delivery to the back-post was met by Renner, who rose above his marker to nod home.
Bradley nodded a Matheson cross over, and as Dale piled on the pressure, they were somehow denied another before the break.
Matheson, Bradley and Hoti all saw efforts blocked at close range during a chaotic goalmouth scramble, before Morley’s stinging effort from the edge of the area was well saved.
Kuemo and Hoti fired over at the start of the second period, but it didn’t take long for Dale to add a third.
Tavares turned provider this time, latching onto a ball behind the Vale defence and squaring for the unmarked Kuemo who slotted home into the empty net.
That combination in reverse paid dividends just 20 seconds after the restart as Tavares bagged his second, slamming home from close range after Kuemo had driven into the area and managed to bundle a ball into the striker’s path.
Just two minutes later and Tavares had his hat-trick. Matheson found Bradley in the area who drove low across goal, with Tavares cheekily flicking a backheel beyond the Vale goalkeeper.
The stopper denied Kuemo just a minute later as Dale overran their opponents, and they found a sixth in the 69th minute.
Hoti found time and space on the edge of the area, and fired low into the bottom corner beyond the goalkeeper’s reach.
Kuemo dragged an effort wide after driving at the Vale defence from receiving a Morley pass, and it was Kuemo who provided Dale’s final goal two minutes from time.
Hoti found him with a through ball down the left channel, and Kuemo bided his time before squaring to Bradley on the edge of the area, who finished coolly first time into the bottom corner.
Dale are now level on points with league leaders Wigan Athletic and second on goal difference, but with a game in hand.
Wigan’s last game of the season is at home to Blackpool on Saturday, whilst Dale are hosting Shrewsbury Town, before playing their final game of the season next Tuesday against Tranmere Rovers.