Rochdale keep play-off hopes alive with Peterborough win

Rochdale preserved their slim play-off hopes in League One with a 2-1 success at Peterborough.Recalled frontman Joe Bunney fired them ahead with his eighth goal of the season after just eight minutes when converting a Donal McDermott cross from the left.And they doubled their advantage when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing returned to haunt his former club. He rifled a rebound into the roof of the net to also register his eighth goal of the campaign after a Bunney effort had been cleared off the line by Michael Bostwick.Dale keeper Josh Lillis had made a fine double save to deny Jon Taylor between those two strikes, but he was eventually beaten 10 minutes before the break when Northern Ireland international Michael Smith fired home his first goal for 19 months with a 25-yard blast.Michael Rose blazed over a glorious chance to restore Dale's two-goal cushion in first-half stoppage time before Taylor fluffed a fine opportunity to level early in the second period.Posh also saw a strong penalty appeal ignored when Tom Nichols was barged over in the box before Lillis saved bravely at the same player's feet late on as Dale held on for a win that leaves them seven points adrift of the top six.