Daniel Nardiello celebrated his 29th birthday with a brace as Exeter moved off the bottom of the table with a 3-1 victory against Rochdale.

Rochdale really should have had the points wrapped up by half-time such was their early dominance. Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro, Marcus Holness, Neil Trotman and Nathan Ecclestone all had good chances, before the latter broke the deadlock. Ashley Grimes latched on to Steve Tully's dreadful back pass and crossed for the on-loan Liverpool man to score from close range. Despite being a distant second best, Exeter incredibly went in at the break on level terms. David Noble's long-range shot hit a defender and Nardiello reacted quickest to poke the ball into the bottom corner. Nardiello put Exeter in front when Jake Taylor was pulled back inside the box early in the second half and the striker converted the subsequent penalty. Taylor wrapped up the points for Exeter with a drilled shot from a narrow angle with 10 minutes to go after good work by Liam Sercombe.