Rochdale put to bed a run of five successive defeats at Spotland in empthatic fashion as they beat Accrington 4-1.

Striker bags the match ball in seeing off Stanley

Rochdale put to bed a run of five successive defeats at Spotland in emphatic fashion as they beat Accrington 4-1. At the hub of much of their best work was the promising Adam Le Fondre, whose clinically taken hat-trick edges Dale closer to a play-off place. The omens were not looking good for Dale when they fell behind in the 35th minute when James Spencer ghosted in to finish Aswad Thomas' long free-kick. Thomas went from hero to zero though in first half stoppage time when he upended Gary Jones in the box, to allow Le Fondre to slot home the resulting penalty. Jones then etched his name on the scoresheet just three minutes into the second period when he converted David Perkins square ball from ten yards. Dale's third arrived in the 65th minute, Chris Basham crossing for Le Fondre to head home his second. And the striker completed his hat-trick in the 83rd minute when he buried Perkins' pinpoint delivery.