Louis White’s first-half penalty secured a 1-0 victory over Morecambe in the EFL North West Youth Alliance League.
White converted from the spot four minutes before the interval to make it five wins in succession for the Youth Team.
Dale started with the same team that had beaten Port Vale 3-0 the previous weekend and were inches away from taking the lead 15 minutes in.
Luke Matheson found Lewis Bradley on the right side, whose low ball into the area was turned onto the inside of the post by Florian Yonsian before rolling across the face of goal and being cleared away.
Florent Hoti, Dan Adshead and Musambya Kisimba all had shots blocked as Dale dominated the opening exchanges, but it was goalkeeper Brad Wade who kept the scores level ten minutes before half-time.
James Neild’s slip as he went to control a pass back to him allowed Freddie Price in on goal, but Wade produced a strong stop one-on-one to deny the Morecambe striker.
It proved a pivotal save, as Dale were awarded a penalty five minutes later when Joe Dunne was fouled following Hoti’s through ball.
White stepped up, and despite the goalkeeper getting a hand to it, his strike was too powerful and Dale were ahead.
There were two substitutions at half-time as Harrison Hopper and Fabio Tavares replaced White and Kisimba, with Tavares involved in a flowing move which saw Hoti have a strike ruled out for offside from Adshead’s through ball.
Bradley flashed an effort wide of the far post before Hoti and Yonsian were both denied by the Morecambe goalkeeper.
Hoti and Bradley both fired efforts off target as Dale looked to put the game to bed, but in the end Dale didn’t need the extra goal, as they secured a fifth successive win.