Ryan Haynes’ early free-kick gave the hosts a 1-0 lead at half-time, but Connor McBride equaliser shortly after the restart.
However, Connor Hall followed his saved penalty on the hour mark to restore Brackley’s lead and ultimately condemn Dale to a first defeat of the season.
With Dale in the midst of a busy August, including three games in five days and a home match upcoming on Bank Holiday Monday, Jimmy McNulty made 11 changes from Wednesday’s win over Gateshead.
There were league debuts for Tom Myles and Jack Griffiths, whilst David Tutonda, Levi Amantchi, Casey Pettit and Dan Moss made their first league starts.
Dale saw lots of possession early on, but it was a well-taken free-kick from Ryan Haynes that gave Brackley a 14th minute lead, as he curled home from 25 yards.
Midway through the opening half and Dale’s dominance of possession began to yield chances, with Jake Burger and Tarryn Allarakhia curled efforts inches wide.
Pettit also saw a free-kick from 20 yards tipped over by Brackley stopper Cameron Gregory, whilst Connor McBride hit a shot from the same distance over the bar.
Connor Hall nodded a cross over for the hosts, and Burger had another effort held by Gregory as the first half came to a close.
Sam Beckwith and Anthony Gomez-Mancini were introduced at the break and immediately linked up for Dale’s equaliser. After receiving a pass into midfield from Beckwith, Gomez-Mancini drove forward and fed McBride with a through ball. He held off his man and poked underneath Gregory for his second in as many games.
McBride then saw a fierce effort beaten away by the Brackley goalkeeper, although the referee pulled the play back for a Dale free-kick just outside the area. McBride laid it off to Pettit, who saw a shot deflected inches wide of the far post.
Myles made a good low save from Morgan Roberts’ effort before the Dale goalkeeper was adjudged to have fouled Roberts a minute later. He came out to close down the Brackley man, whose chip was cleared off the line by Beckwith, but the referee deemed Myles to have brought down his man in the follow-up.
The Dale stopper saved Hall’s spot kick, but the rebound fell kindly for the Brackley man, who slotted home.
Amantchi headed over a cross from the right as Dale looked for a second equaliser, before his replacement, Mani Dieseruvwe, hit the bar with a left-footed effort on the turn.
Pettit and Allarakhia hit shots off target and Burger saw a low effort saved, whilst Dale’s best chance fell to Gomez-Mancini, who had a shot from inside the area superbly blocked by a defender with the goalkeeper beaten.
Hogan and Gomez-Mancini both saw shots deflected off target as the clock ticked down, but Dale couldn’t find a late equaliser.
Brackley XI | Gregory, Lyttle, Price (68’ Hobson), Morrison, Dean ©, Brown, Roberts, Lowe (80’ Waldron), Lilly, Hall (68’ Pollock), Haynes.
Unused subs | Maxted, Calder, Donawa.
Scorers | 14’ Haynes, 60’ Hall.
Dale XI | Myles, Tutonda (46’ Beckwith), Hogan ©, Allarakahia, Amantchi (66’ Dieseruvwe), Pettit, Burger, McBride (66’ Gilmour), Moss, Griffiths (66’ Adebayo-Rowling), Henderson (46’ Gomez-Mancini).
Unused subs | Gordon, Barlow.
Scorers | 52’ McBride.
Attendance | 1,136 (238 Dale fans).
