Rochdale emerged comfortable winners against Barnet at Spotland as the home campaign got under way this afternoon.#

Dale were not at their best in the first half hour, going a goal down to Adam Birchall’s strike. But Adam Rundle and Chris Dagnall put them 2-1 ahead by the break and a dominant second half saw Jon Shaw net his first goal for the club.

Keith Hill kept faith with the same starting XI as Dale began their League Two home campaign.

The 11 players who started against Oldham in midweek took to the field against Barnet at Spotland looking to secure the first win of the season. As expected, new signing Mark Jones did not make the squad.

The visitors stunned Dale with an early goal. Just two minutes in, a long clearance from Robert Beckwith was flicked on by Joe Tabiri and Adam Birchall, deep inside the Dale area on the left side, volleyed across Sam Russell and into the far corner, a first-time finish of real quality.

The pace of Luke Medley and trickery of Birchall posed a real threat in the early phases of the game, though the hosts hit the woodwork in the seventh minute from an Adam Rundle corner.

Dale settled into a pattern of their own by the quarter hour mark, Rundle just wide with a shot from the left-hand edge of the box while two decent claims for a penalty were waved away by referee Oliver Langford.

Those attempts gave way to a poor passage of play, both performance and crowd somewhat muted and still in shock from that early Barnet strike.

The visitors should have been two up when a glorious chance presented itself to Tabiri in the 28th minute. A cross by Medley to Birchall was cut out by Nathan Stanton, but the ball ran loose to Tabiri. With the goal at his mercy, eight yards out, he blasted into the side netting – a real let off for Hill’s men.

Birchall sent a swerving 20 yarder just over and as the half wore on, Dale continued to labour to no avail.

Finally, their deadlock was broken by Rundle in the 38th minute. Jon Shaw fed him a quick throw in from the left and the winger headed into the area, feeding the ball to Chris Dagnall. The striker’s attempt to turn and shoot was blocked and Rundle collected the ball, sweeping it past Beckwith to trigger great relief around the stadium.

It was 2-1 to Dale within six minutes, Dagnall getting ahead of his markers to collect Jones’ flick on, twisting his body to volley past Beckwith.

Dale looked far more threatening after the break, exposing Barnet’s fragility in defence. Substitute Ciaran Toner shot just wide from 20 yards while Shaw was close with a looping header.

A breakaway move from Barnet saw Tabiri cut inside Ramsden and side-foot a shot towards the far corner, Russell down quickly to make the save.

Jon Shaw sealed the win in the 72nd minute with his first goal for the club when he raced onto Russell’s clearance and volleyed past Beckwith.

Adam Le Fondre’s turn and volley was well saved by Beckwith while Clark Keltie’s looping shot was just too high to trouble the Barnet stopper.

Le Fondre’s header was cleared off the line while another fine move saw le Fondre tee up Jones, the skipper’s blazing effort inches too high.

Le Fondre was good value for a goal, but a late jinking run in the area ended with another good stop from Beckwith.

Rochdale: Russell, Ramsden, McArdle, Stanton, Kennedy, Higginbotham (Toner 60), G Jones, Keltie, Rundle, Dagnall (Le Fondre 69), Shaw (Thorpe 82). Subs not used: Spencer, Wiseman

Barnet: Beckwith, Devera, Bishop, Yakubu, Leary, Adomah, Porter (St Aimie 68), Birchall (Hart 79), Medley, Tabiri, Carew. Subs not used: Harrison, Thomas, Akurang

Att: 2,442

Referee: O Langford