DALE took their winning streak to three games with a hard working performance against struggling Warrington Town.

On a pitch which was appalling at best, no football as such could be played with Dale having to drop their usual passing style and adopt a more direct approach.

The first half matched the conditions with little action at either end to keep the crowd entertained. Joe Booth had Dale's first effort with a volley from the edge of the box that flew just over, then Phil Eastwood tested Vickers with a shot, the keeper making light work of the save.

Warrington had their moments with Burns forcing Chris Thompson into a good save to tip over his header, while on the stroke of half time Phil Mitchell's free kick fooled everybody, hitting the far post before bouncing away to safety.

The second half was far better as Dale tried to get the ball down and play football.

John Turner was at the centre of everything in midfield and he regularly found Adam Cook and Danny Warrender in wide areas, which caused a poor Warrington defence plenty of problems.

It was Warrender who went the closest to opening the scoring, the full back reacting quickest to Mark Drew's deflected shot only to see his own effort hit the bar. Turner had two attempts from distance, which brought good saves from Vickers, and it only seemed a matter of time before Dale broke the deadlock.

They thought they had in the 65th minute when Clarke turned Cook's shot home from six yards only for the referee's assistant to rule his effort out for offside.

Dale's travelling army had to wait until the 90th minute for the winner, but it was worth it as some lovely football saw substitute Anthony Taylor through on goal and he made no mistake from 12 yards.