No, you haven’t just entered the Tardis. And, yes, I am betting on Rochdale yet again.

Keith Hill’s men continue to lead the way in League 2 and I expect them to continue their charge towards League 1 this Saturday up at Spotland.

Back on the 14th of November 2009, Dagenham & Redbridge were sitting pretty at the top of league 2, having produced a strong early season line of 9/5/2/+12. At the time the mighty Dale were back in 3rd place with a line of 9/2/5/+13.

However, since that wet November day at Victoria Road, the teams’ respective fortunes have taken very different directions. D&R have been in an absolute tailspin, resulting in the team falling into 11th place (which is quite a feat from top spot only 3 months ago!) and now have a line for the season of 12/7/10/+3.

Rochdale (18/5/6/+34), on the other hand have continued to go from strength to strength, having only lost once to a red hot Bury team earlier this month, and now sit three points clear at the top with two games in hand.

An additional factor to consider is the likely mindset of both the players and management team going into games such as these. The Daggers recorded a well fought 1-0 victory at home to, high flying (but, as previously discussed here on BOTW, over-rated) Bournemouth and this will have lifted their spirits somewhat.

However, I believe this result will be to our advantage. They will now be going to Spotland “looking to get a positive result”, i.e. a win, rather than taking the siege mentality/everything on the line approach they would have without last week’s success. As a team that has only managed to chalk up a measly 11 points in their last 13 games, I personally would advise they do nothing more than park the proverbial bus and attempt to pinch a point

Rochdale are a very strong outfit at home (10/1/3/+19) and although far from the worst team in the league away from home, D&R’s away record of 3/5/5/-6 provides little to indicate that they will follow up last weekend’s success and keep their fading playoff hopes alive.

Personally, I would have priced this one up at 1/2 at best, so I suggest getting a nice little piece of your gambling pie on this one this weekend.

BOTW: 4pts on Rochdale to beat Dagenham & Redbridge @ 4/6