Rochdale were beaten on the road on Saturday, losing 3-0 away at Swindon Town.
Jacob Wakeling, Jonny Williams and Harry McKirdy were on the scoresheet for the Robins at the County Ground.
Jim McNulty was in charge of the side following the departure of Robbie Stockdale and Jimmy Shan on Thursday, and he made one change to the side that lined up against Stevenage midweek, as Liam Kelly came in for Ray Tulloch.
Rochdale found themselves behind inside the opening 30 seconds of the game, when the Robins capitalised on a Ben Nelson miss-hit back pass and Wakeling stole in on goal, before firing beyond Richard O’Donnell from a tight angle.
The home side were in again twice in as many minutes. Ethan Ebanks-Landell was forced to put in a last ditch challenge to defend behind a shot at source from Wakeling, after he’d been played through by Williams. Ronan Darcy then fired narrowly over from distance, as Swindon looked to build on their early goal.
O’Donnell then pulled off a string of saves to keep Dale in the game.
After McKirdy had seen a shot deflected behind off Cameron John, the resulting corner was cleared back out as far as the Robins forward and he fired a powerful effort at goal which O’Donnell got his two hands behind to superbly push behind.
The Rochdale ‘keeper then denied Frazer Blake-Tracey, who was sent through one-on-one with him, before reacting quickly to scoop away Tom Clayton’s close range header.
Dale grew into the game and had a couple of chances to find an equaliser. Devante Rodney saw his powerful effort from 25-yards fly narrowly wide of the upright, before Dale superbly worked their way into the area and Abraham Odoh played a dangerous ball across the face of goal but agonisingly, Toumani Diagouraga, despite stretching and sliding in to get there, couldn’t make the needed connection to turn the ball beyond Sol Brynn.
Before the half was out, O’Donnell got behind Wakeling’s shot from 20-yards, while Saidou Khan fired over.
Dale had the ball in the back of the net on the stroke of half-time, but an offside flag went up against Rodney.
Three minutes after the restart, Kelly curled an effort narrowly over from 25-yards, but Swindon gave Rochdale a mountain to climb when they doubled their advantage in the 50th minute. Wakeling broke forward after picking up a loose ball, rounding O’Donnell before playing in Williams who slotted into the unguarded net.
Soon after, Louis Reed fired a free-kick from 20-yards inches wide, and a double Dale substitution followed, with Diagouraga and Odoh making way for Ethan Brierley and Tulloch.
O’Donnell pulled off another big save in the 81st minute, this time to deny Ricky Aguiar with his feet, after the substitute had got through one-on-one with him.
However, sixty seconds later, the Robins extended their lead further when McKirdy fired home. Unmarked, he had time to get the ball out from under his feet before striking past O'Donnell.
Tulloch came closest to pulling a goal back for Dale, but he could only watch on as his low effort curled narrowly wide of the far post.
Connor Malley came on soon after, replacing James Ball, to make his Rochdale debut with four minutes left to play. Aidy White also came on for John, while Tyrese Sinclair replaced Rodney.
In stoppage time, O'Donnell made a low save down to his right to keep out Ben Gladwin’s free-kick, before punching away a looping header.