Cheltenham Town's mini-revival under boss Mark Yates came to a crashing end with defeat by league leaders Rochdale at the Abbey Business Stadium this afternoon.
Dale boast the division's most potent strike pairing in Chris O'Grady and Chris Dagnall and it took only 18 minutes for the former to bag the first before going on to complete his hatrick in the final minute, taking the duo's tally to 29 for the campaign.
Cheltenham had done well to contain the division's top scorers, but a pair of soft goals shortly after the turnaround put paid to the home side's hopes of somehow salvaging a result against League Two's runaway leaders, nine points clear tonight after second-placed Bournemouth's defeat by Aldershot.
Mark Yates' side didn't perform badly, and deserved their late consolation goal through Michael Townsend on effort alone, but Rochdale played with the air of a side that look set to end 35 uninterrupted years in football's basement division with automatic promotion come May.
Not the way Yates intended to celebrate his birthday, 40 years young tomorrow.
TEAM NEWS: Midfielder Matt Thornhill made his debut for the club after arriving on an initial month's loan from Nottingham Forest earlier in the week, effectively coming in for Ashley Eastham who was suspended for this one after receiving his marching orders at Grimsby Town last weekend.
Therefore Andy Gallinagh dropped back to deputise for the Blackpool loanee in central defence, with Thornhill taking up the left-hand side of the midfield diamond, with Josh Low taking up position on the right. Joss Labadie shielded the centre halves and David Hutton linked the midfield with the forward pairing of Julian Alsop and Justin Richards.
Rochdale meanwhile lost midfielder Will Buckley to injury in the warm-up and was replaced at the last minute by Andy Haworth on the Rochdale right.
10th minute: Cheltenham made a purposeful start to the game and created a couple of chances to snatch the lead with only 10 minutes played. Thornhill's first notable contribution provided Alsop with a heading chance but goalkeeper Tom Heaton swatted away the Forest man's centre from the left. Then a moment later Josh Low and David Hutton both had opportunities to release efforts after a swift counter-attacking move down the right, but both players were guilty of hesitation which handed the Dale defence the chance to clear their lines.
17: Rochdale struck the woodwork with their first real sight of Scott Brown's goal with 17 minutes on the clock when Haworth cut inside Low before watching his clever curler cannon back off the right post which fell nicely for Brown to gather.
18 GOAL: Cheltenham Town 0-1 Rochdale
Dale moved into the lead 18 minutes in after a break down the same flank which had moments earlier provided Haworth his shooting chance. This time O'Grady, racing onto partner Dagnall's square ball from the left touchline, found a yard of space to fire a left footer under Brown's frame to put the league leaders in front.
21: Low's deflected strike fizzed over Heaton's bar after 21 minutes when the winger, who started the game impressively down the right, latched onto Alsop's knock down 18 yards from goal.
24: Hutton drew a routine save from Heaton with a strike from 18 yards.
26: Haworth may have been a late addition to the Rochdale starting line-up but the right winger, on loan from Premier League Blackburn Rovers, was posing problems for the Cheltenham back four and forced a corner after ghosting into the box to meet Joe Thompson's low ball from the right. Brown though got down well to prevent the Rochdale man from scoring from an acute angle.
31: Danny Andrew, making his home debut after his loan move from Peterborough United, narrowly missed the target with a 25-yard free-kick after Jason Taylor had fouled Hutton.
33: Skipper Jason Kennedy smashed one well over from distance, latching onto the loose ball following a Tom Kennedy corner in the 33rd minute.
40: Dagnall drew a fine stop from Brown five minutes before the interval with a volley from 10 yards.
44 BOOKING: Michael Townsend was enjoying a good tussle with Thompson but overstepped the mark with a clumsy challenge when the powerful winger burst down the right, earning the first yellow card of the afternoon.
HALF TIME: 0-1
49 GOAL: Cheltenham Town 0-2 Rochdale
Dale extended their lead four minutes after the restart, and it was a mistake by the Cheltenham number one which handed O'Grady the straight-forward task of claiming his second of the afternoon. Haworth provided the cross from the left which Brown, under no pressure, was always struggling to meet, eventually palming it down into the path of the striker, who smashed it home unchallenged from close range.
56 GOAL: Cheltenham Town 0-3 Rochdale
It took Rochdale another seven minutes to put daylight between themselves and the home side, notching their third with 56 minutes on the clock. Andrew fouled Thompson down the right flank to hand Tom Kennedy the opportunity to deliver a free-kick to the far post. Craig Dawson arrived to sidefoot home, but Brown somehow got something on it. Unfortunately for the goalkeeper, the centre half forced it home at the second attempt.
57 DOUBLE SUBSTITUTION: Alsop and Hutton were withdrawn and replaced with Elvis Hammond, who almost pulled one back with a header moments later, and David Bird with a little over half an hour remaining of the match.
68 SUBSTITUTION: Kallum Higginbottom came on in place of the impressive Thompson in the right midfield role.
70: Brown atoned for his earlier error with a notable save to deny Dawson a second after the defender had met Tom Kennedy's corner from the right.
77 SUBSTITUTION: Barry Hayles replaced Richards with 13 minutes remaining. Low then fired one well over from 20 yards.
78: Brown got down well to save O'Grady's low effort to bag the matchball.
79: Hammond squandered the chance to trouble Heaton with a wayward volley from a tight angle down the right channel.
83: Substitute Hayles went close to registering when he latched onto Bird's ball from the right, taking a touch before slamming his shot wide of the left upright seven minutes from time.
86 SUBSTITUTION: Haworth, called into the side at short notice, was impressive on the right of midfield and received a standing ovation from the 573 travelling supporters when he was replaced by Adam Rundle in the closing stages.
90+1 GOAL: Cheltenham Town 1-3 Rochdale
Townsend claimed Cheltenham's consolation goal a minute into added-on time, poking home from 10 yards after Low's shot was deflected into his path.
90+3 GOAL: Cheltenham Town 1-4 Rochdale
Brown pulled off a fantastic diving stop to prevent O'Grady curling home his third; then the linesman denied the striker his third with an offside call with the follow-up. But the former Oldham Athletic man, who recently penned a permanent deal with Dale, found a way past Brown seconds later with a fine solo effort down the left channel to lay his hands on the match ball with the last kick of the game.
FULL TIME: 1-4
CHELTENHAM TOWN (4-4-2): Brown; Pipe, Eastham, Townsend (c), Andrew; Low, Hutton (Bird 57), Labadie, Thornhill; Alsop (Hammond 57), Richards (Hayles 77), Subs not used: Diallo, Pook, Puddy (Gk), Lewis.
ROCHDALE (4-4-2): Heaton; Wiseman, Dawson, Stanton, T Kennedy; Thompson (Higginbottom 68), J Kennedy (c), Taylor, Haworth (Rundle 86); O'Grady, Dagnall. Subs not used: Arthur (Gk), Jones, McArdle, Flynn.
REFEREE: GD Horwood
ATTENDANCE: 3,460 (573 from Rochdale)
Murry Toms at the Abbey Business Stadium
