Paul Ince's side suffered their second consecutive defeat following their 1-0 defeat to bottom side Wrexham last weekend and saw the gap at the top closed to three points.

The home team had a golden opportunity to break the deadlock in the 11th minute when were awarded a penalty after Nathan Stanton brought down Dean Lewington in the area.

Stanton was booked for the foul and then received a second yellow for dissent to reduce the visitors to 10 men for the remainder of the game.

Keith Andrews took the resulting spot-kick but Rochdale goalkeeper Sam Russell guessed correctly and parried the ball to safety.

Gary Jones scored what turned out to be the only goal of the game in the 32nd minute and his side hung on for all three points at stadium:mk.

Second-placed Rotherham claimed a 1-0 win over Chester at the Deva Stadium to keep the pressure on at the top.

The winner came in the seventh minute after Chris O'Grady hit a left-footed shot from 18 yards which fizzed past goalkeeper John Danby.

Promotion hopefuls Darlington came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw at home to Macclesfield.

Tommy Wright (10) had put the Quakers ahead but two goals in four minutes from Martin Gritton (60) and Ryan Cresswell (64) gave Macclesfield the lead.

But Cresswell then put through his own net to give Darlington a share of the spoils.

Bottom side Wrexham were unable to hold a one-goal lead against Bradford at the Racecourse.

Neil Roberts opened the scoring in the 38th minute but Kyle Nix equalised for the Bantams four minutes after the half-time break.

A goal in the second minute of injury-time from Danny North earned Grimsby a point in a 1-1 draw against a Shrewsbury side reduced to 10 men.

Shrewsbury had defender Colin Murdock sent off in the 56th minute after he brought down North and referee Dave Foster produced a red card.

Guy Madjo had put the Shrews ahead in the 75th minute but North levelled in the dying stages.

Goals from Ben Wright and Dany N'Guessan handed Lincoln a 2-0 win over Dagenham while Scott McGleish gave Wycombe a 1-0 home win over Chesterfield.

Carl Baker's 10th goal of the season rescued a point for Morecambe as they played out a 1-1 draw with Notts County who had taken the lead through Richard Butcher in the 28th minute.

End