Rochdale strolled to a comfortable 3-0 League One victory against a Gillingham side forced to play out the second half with 10 men.
The Gills lost striker Tom Eaves to a red card – for his second booking – just before the break for an elbow on Joe Rafferty and by that stage they were already two goals down.
The breakthrough arrived in the 24th minute as a weaving run forward from left-back Joe Bunney took him past three opponents and – while his low drive towards the bottom was saved by Tomas Holy – the goalkeeper only succeeded in parrying the ball into the path of Ian Henderson, who tapped home from close range.
Rochdale strolled to a comfortable 3-0 League One victory against a Gillingham side forced to play out the second half with 10 men.
The Gills lost striker Tom Eaves to a red card – for his second booking – just before the break for an elbow on Joe Rafferty and by that stage they were already two goals down.
The breakthrough arrived in the 24th minute as a weaving run forward from left-back Joe Bunney took him past three opponents and – while his low drive towards the bottom was saved by Tomas Holy – the goalkeeper only succeeded in parrying the ball into the path of Ian Henderson, who tapped home from close range.
The defeat sees The Gills drop back into the League One relegation zone, dropping to 22nd and they will hope to put this result behind them quickly with Scunthorpe United coming to Priestfield on Tuesday night.
Rochdale line up: Lillis, Rafferty, Bunney (Ntlhe 71), McNulty, McGahey, Camps, M Williams, Rathbone, Inman (Done 86), Henderon, Davies (Andrew 58).
Subs not used: Moore, Slew, J Williams, Daniels.
Goals: Henderson (24), Rafferty (26), Done (90’+1)
Booked: Davies (36), Williams (57)
Gillingham line up: Holy, O’Neill, Lacey, Zakuani, Nugent, Ehmer (Parker H/T), Bingham, Byrne, Clare, Eaves, Wilkinson (Nash H/T).
Subs not used: Arnold, Hessenthaler, Oldaker, Ogilvie, Starkey.
Booked: Eaves (30), Zakuani (48).
Sent Off: Eaves (44).
Referee: Mr Eddie Ilderton
Attendance: 2,793 (159 Gills)