CITY 1 ROCHDALE 2

IF TYREIK Wright was a punch that City never saw coming, this was a haymaker that rocked them to their boots.

Mark Hughes and his men thought they had weathered the painful body blow of losing Wright to claim a third straight Valley Parade victory - and fourth spot.

But the joy at Abo Eisa, the man who took his place in attack, scoring in consecutive games was blown away by a devastating one-two from veteran Ian Henderson.

The Rochdale striker turns 38 in a couple of weeks but his predatory instinct has not dimmed as he swooped on two close-range finishes to turn the result on its head.

Dale snatched their first win since November 8 - and only a second in 14 games - while Valley Parade fumed at another dismal refereeing display and a home humbling by a team at the wrong end.

It made for a glorious return for Richard O’Donnell against the club for whom he played 138 times in four years. The boos of frustration at the final whistle will have sounded familiar too.

What a missed opportunity this was.

Vadaine Oliver had issued a pre-match warning of the potential danger of an opponent scrapping for their lives. But this should have been three points for the taking.

Hughes made only the one enforced change from the previous outing against Salford nine days earlier. Eisa’s reward for scoring the winner in that game was a start in the “Wright role” up front with Oliver.

New boy Thierry Nevers, officially unveiled at midday, came straight onto the bench and got a first run-out in stoppage time - but it was too late to save the day.

The biggest fear was that the game wouldn’t start at all. In hindsight, perhaps it would have been better if the plug had been pulled.

The pitch looked in remarkably good condition at 5pm considering the constant heavy rain. But an hour later, referee Paul Howard and the officials were looking with real concern at the two corner areas in front of the Midland Road stand.

Howard's impact on proceedings would be felt later on.

Mick Doyle and his ground staff forked the problem section and the rain briefly relented - before returning once more by kick-off.

The pitch was predictably stodgy in parts and some high balls would end with a squelch rather than true bounce. The ball really held up along the Midland Road touchline.

It was not the night or surface to play anything too fancy, although City did try to stick to their passing principles when possible - a Harry Chapman backheel on halfway stuck out amid the many percentage balls.

Levi Sutton was prominent early on but O’Donnell was not troubled in the opening 20 minutes.

The first half chance fell to the visitors, although the pitch took any sting off Ethan Ebanks-Landell’s header from a deep free-kick by Danny Lloyd.

But Rochdale were quite happy with how things were panning out - until City struck with their first effort on target.

Matty Foulds’ cross-field pass was flicked on by Chapman and Sutton and then it was all Eisa, pushing the ball confidently past Cameron John before drilling a right-foot drive across O’Donnell into the far corner.

It was a quality finish - even more so given the trying conditions.

City’s tails were up and O’Donnell needed two grabs at an awkward, dipping attempt from Alex Gilliead.

Harry Lewis had to be watchful with a miscued cross from Femi Seriki that he claimed on the line.

But Rochdale almost stunned the hosts with an equaliser on 53 minutes after Matty Platt conceded a cheap foul 25 yards out. Devante Rodney’s cleverly-worked free-kick sneaked past the wall and caught out Lewis, bouncing off the base of the post and back out across the goal-mouth.

City were screaming for a penalty when a clumsy lunge from Ebanks-Landell cleaned out Eisa in the Rochdale box. But ref Howard was unmoved as the boos rang out.

The official then infuriated the home crowd - and confirmed his role as the villain of the piece - by pointing to the spot at the other end after a coming together between Halliday and Rodney sent the striker sprawling.

Lewis saved his spot-kick but cheers turned to groans straight away as Henderson slammed in the rebound.

It was horrible déjà vu for Halliday who had given away a similar spot-kick against Swindon earlier in the season - a decision that City later got an apology for.

And in the space of a couple of minutes, a potential 2-0 had become 1-1.

Then it got even worse for City as Rochdale - and Henderson - struck again on 70 minutes. Danny Lloyd’s cross was touched on by Rodney and his evergreen partner slipped in between the two centre-halves to convert from close range.

The boos rang out at the final whistle for another official that left Valley Parade raging.

But City must shoulder an equal share of the blame for letting such a good chance to close in on the leading pack slip so annoyingly through their grasp.