Mani Dieseruvwe’s double, and another from Ryan East, saw Jimmy McNulty’s men extend their record to 11 wins from 13 league games.
Jimmy McNulty made two changes from last weekend’s Emirates FA Cup tie against York City, with Liam Hogan and Tarryn Allarakhia replacing Ethan Ebanks-Landell and Kevin Berkoe, who both missed out on the matchday squad.
Dale took less than five minutes to open the scoring, with Dieseruvwe netting his 11th of the campaign. The ball was worked well down the right, leading to Kyron Gordon finding space behind the defence. He squared for the number nine, who slotted home coolly from six yards.
The visitors responded to the early setback relatively well, with Aaron Jarvis flashing an effort wide. Andrew Oluwabori also sent a curling effort over the bar, but they were the only efforts they mustered in a first-half dominated by Dale.
Gordon headed an East free-kick into the arms of Yeovil stopper Jed Ward, before East himself flashed one wide from the edge of the area.
Ward then saved from Allarakhia, and Dieseruvwe sent a shot narrowly wide on the turn, before the latter doubled his tally on the half-hour mark.
Devante Rodney found space in the middle of the park and drove forward at pace before sliding a perfectly weighted through ball to Dieseruvwe. He took a touch into the penalty area and slotted into the far bottom corner clinically.
Rodney created space for himself again and had three shot saves by Ward in quick succession, with the second being tipped onto the crossbar.
A third Dale goal came two minutes before the break. Aidan Barlow found Dieseruvwe, who tried to find his way through a packed area, but the ball fell for East, who steered home his third of the season.
After the interval, Barlow sent a left-footed effort wide and hit a free-kick into the Yeovil wall, whilst Allarakhia and Rodney both had shots from inside the area blocked.
There were more blocked shots from Allarakhia and Dieseruvwe as McNulty’s men continued their push for a fourth, whilst substitute Tyler Smith had a shot saved by Ward.
Harvey Gilmour had a shot deflected over the bar and Connor McBride, off the bench, had a shot from the edge of the area saved by the legs of Ward.
Smith also saw a poked effort saved by Ward, whilst the final effort of the game came from the visitors, when Luke McCormick hit one off the underside of the crossbar.
The win extended Dale’s lead at the top of the Enterprise National League table to two points, albeit with Forest Green Rovers and Carlisle United facing each other in the late kick-off.
Dale XI | Whatmuff, Gordon ©, East (72’ Pettit), Hogan, Allarakhia (65’ Moss), Gilmour, Dieseruvwe (72’ Amantchi), Rodney (72’ McBride), Adebayo-Rowling, Barlow (65’ Smith), Beckwith.
Unused subs | Burger, Hosannah.
Scorers | 5’ 30’ Dieseruvwe, 43’ East.
Yeovil Town XI | Ward, Pendleton, Williams, Cousin-Dawson, Wannell ©, McCormick, Jarvis, Oluwabori (46’ Greenslade), Sims (79’ Whittle), Nurse, Ferguson (72’ Efete).
Unused subs | Gould, Morias, Wodskou, Campbell.
Attendance | 2,716 (107 away).
