A second half horror show saw Yeovil Town crumble to a their joint heaviest defeat of the season as they capitulated at the hands of Rochdale at Spotland.
Having weathered an early storm of pressure from the home side, the Glovers could even have taken the lead when Ciaran McGuckin forced a fine out of Sam Waller and probably deserved to go in level at the break.
But after an error from goalkeeper Ollie Wright gifted Rochdale the lead four minutes after the break, it went from bad to worse for the visitors. Wright conceded a penalty for a foul on Kairo Mitchell eight minutes later which the striker converted before another defensive blunder gifted Leon Ayinde the third on 64 minutes.
Dale lifted their foot off the gas after that but found just enough for Jake Burger to add a fourth in second half injury time to send the travelling supporters back on the 240-mile trip back to Somerset thoroughly dejected.
Here’s how Dave saw it from the away end at Spotland…..
First half

Half time: Rochdale 0 Yeovil Town 0
Second half

A complete communication break down between Wright and Cousin-Dawson saw Mitchell sneak in and go down under pressure from the keeper. Penalty. Kairo MITCHELL put the ball in the far corner with 57 minutes played. It’s gone from bad to even worse.

Full time: Rochdale 4 Yeovil Town 0
Match Details
Venue: Spotland
Date: Saturday 25th January- 3pm kick-off
Competition: National League Premier Division
Scorers: Devante Rodney 49 (0-1), Kairo Mitchell 57 (0-2), Leon Ayinde 64 (0-3), Jake Burger 90+4 (0-4)
Pitch: Looked like the type of carpet your Dad puts down in his garage, but inside of oil stains there were huge muddy patches
Conditions: Brilliant sunshine
Attendance: 2,463
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Finn Cousin-Dawson 10, Charlie Cooper 41, Dom Bernard 41
Rochdale: Sam Beckwith 90
Referee: Scott Oldham
Yeovil Town (3-4-2-1)
Substitutes: Josh Sims (for Jacob Maddox, 26), Lewys Twamley (for Dom Bernard, 61), Morgan Williams (for Sean McGurk, 61), Frank Nouble (for Alex Whittle, 65), Kofi Shaw (for Charlie Cooper, 69), Harvey Greenslade (not used), Matt Gould (not used).
Rochdale: Sam Waller, Jid Okeke (for Jili Buyabu, 77), Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, Liam Hogan, Kyron Gordon, Sam Beckwith, Leon Ayinde (for Jake Burger, 77), Ryan East (for Charlie Weston, 87), Harvey Gilmour, Kairo Mitchell (for Connor McBride, 77), Devante Rodney (for Devante Rodney, 73).
Substitutes (not used): Kyle Ferguson, Tarryn Allarakhia.
Watching Super Rochdale putting on a show. Up the Dale.
Zero shots on goal! That’s can’t have been fun. Still, moved off the bottom of the table – the disciplinary table!
Your over-exaggeration about the pitch is laughable. Same for both teams and it was nothing like a swamp, it’s just devoid of grass in certain small areas, whereas Yeovil were devoid of ideas, devoid of fight and devoid of effort. For the manager to later claim that ‘we dominated possession’ is devoid of the truth. Be thankful it wasn’t 7 or 8 as it could so easily have been.
What’s laughable is Rochdale fans, who I’m assuming are actual ‘adults’, setting up an account on a Yeovil news site to rub salt into wounds. Your pitch was/is shite, we were/are shite.
On our performance, Paul, I think you’ll be aware (if you’ve read the full report) that we agree. As for the pitch, we can lend you some wellies.
This has cheered me up on my long trip back to Wiltshire as your report is pretty accurate apart from the pitch bit ( and we Dale know all about a bad pitch!!). Thought Yeovil players looked a bit off the pace fitness wise unlike down at your place, but that does seem a long time ago.
Don’t think the kick-off was 7.30pm.
Oops! I should’ve guessed from the blinding sunlight in my eyes for the first hour. Thanks for the spot, edited.