THREE goals in the last eight minutes delivered the Rose Bowl from Spotland to Boundary Park.

It looked as though we were in for the delights of a penalty shoot-out until Latics got a bit of leeway from referee Scott Mathieson and scored from a well-taken free-kick by Danny Boshell.

There were some who argued the 82nd-minute decision should have gone Dale's way, and there were some who argued offside should have been given.

No-one could argue with Boshell's strike which hit the inside of the far post and rebounded round the back of Neil Edwards and into the net.

Two more goals were added by the pacy Jermaine Johnson and they gave the scoreline something of a false look, as Dale had matched their opponents from down the road for most of the game and in most departments.

Forwards Grant Holt and Paul Tait are big and strong and could cause a lot of problems for defences in the coming season, but the star of the show was left-back Alan Goodall who looks to have solved what had been something of a problem position for Dale.

Goodall was beaten by Johnson's pace a couple of times early in the first half, but he stuck to his guns and gave an admirable performance which included a good long-range shot only just wide of the mark.

When Steve Parkin sits down to finalise his line-up for Saturday's visit to Scunthorpe, Goodall will surely be in it.

As for the rest?

Parkin will know best who did what in the game against Oldham as it seems not all was revealed by Dale on the night. The boss didn't want to give too much away to watching Scunthorpe spies and said afterwards his team had not used its proposed game plan or any of the set-pieces being worked on in training.

It also upset Dale plans for the night when the influential Gary Jones limped out of the action after only 18 minutes.

So, all in all, perhaps little could be gleaned from the Rose Bowl clash as to Dale's intentions and promise for the real thing, but at least the match did show up one thing which Parkin readily recognises - another big lad is needed for the front in case Tait or Holt get injured.

From having two big lads in the line Dale found themselves with two small players up front in Kevin Townson and Leighton McGivern, both decent players, but not exactly the tallest in the squad. The remedy? Watch this space, as Parkin said in his post-match comments.

Space did seem more plentiful for both teams than they will find it in league games, after all it was only a friendly despite a couple of over zealous tackles and a melee which could have led to a booking or two in a more serious match.

The first half was shared in terms of goal attempts and those on target. Dale had more shots than Oldham after the break, but only one was on target - Tait heading into the hands of the keeper from a Goodall cross.

Oldham had four shots and scored from three of them.