Hartlepool inflicted Rochdale’s first home defeat of the season as goals at the start of each half proved costly for Steve Eyre’s team.

The visitors exposed Dale’s poor record of conceding early on when they edged ahead on eight minutes. Steve Haslam’s inswinging cross found Adam Boyd and he rose above Marcus Holness to send a looping header over David Lucas and into the net.

Mick Wadsworth;s side were unable to hold on to that advantage for long as Rochdale hit back on 16 minutes. A raking pass from Gary Jones picked out Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro on the right-hand side of the area and the Frenchman sent a first-time volley past Scott Flinders.

Dale controlled the rest of the half and came close to a second on the half hour mark when Ashley Grimes linked up well with Akpa Akpro before seeing his shot deflected wide from close range.

Dale’s bad habit of starting poorly came back to haunt them again at the start of the second half as James Poole’s cushioned left-footed volley from 20 yards restored Hartlepool’s lead within two minutes the restart.

Jason Kennedy saw a close-range effort blocked by Peter Hartleys while Eyre’s men had a penalty claim turned away when Joe Widdowson’s cross appeared to hit the arm of Haslam.

But it was game over for the hosts when Poole controlled Paul Murray’s pass and clipped his second past Lucas on 86 minutes.

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