DALE missed a second-half penalty and had enough chances to get something out of this match against a team they crushed 5-1 last month.

But in truth this was a match where both sides struggled against the gale force winds and Dale failed to provide the usual incisive attacks and badly missed absentees John Borland and Craig Sargeson.

A strong first half penalty claim was ignored when Danny Heys was blatantly brought down by the keeper on 13 minutes.

The teams were level at the break and what turned out to be the winning goal came on 46 minutes when Abbey Hey's long ball down the middle gave visitors number seven Carl Hipkin the chance to hit the target and he made no mistake.

Ged Walsh looked to have levelled for the Dark Lane men on 52 minutes when he headed home a corner, only to be given offside with a posse of defenders on the line.

The penalty miss was after 78 minutes when Steve Cunningham blasted his effort against the bar.

Micky Graham's side were also thwarted by an excellent save from the Abbey Hey keeper which drew generous applause after he turned Neil Ollerton's shot over, then Dale's Mark Andrews - returning from injury - produced a similar touch of class on a disappointing night for the home side.

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