Scarborough gave their hope of division three survival another massive boost with a grim but battling 1-0 win over Rochdale.

It was backs to the wall stuff for much of the 90 minutes, rarely can a game have been so one sided in the away teams favour.

For long periods Boro were hanging on by their fingernails but hang on they did after Steve Brodie fired home his tenth goal of the season on ten minutes.

And for the second game running - after last Saturday's 1-0 win at Torquay - Brodie's solitary strike was enough to secure the Seasiders all three points and close the gap on the teams above.

Just the number of goals scored now separates Boro from Hartlepool with Chris Turner's side today facing the long haul trip to Torquay.

Scarborough striker Chris Tate said: "All the teams above us will see we have won and will be looking over their shoulders now. We have just to keep grinding out results."

It was a slow start for Boro until Brodie fired them into the lead.

Marauding front-man Darren Roberts cut inside full-back Paul Cardin before letting fly with a rasping shot. Dale keeper Neil Edwards could only parry the ball in to the path of the impish Brodie who despatched the ball home.

Minutes later Rochdale should have levelled when the gigantic 6ft 7ins Andy Morris headed on a long clearance in to the path of strike partner Michael Holt but he pulled his shot wide.

On 17 minutes Boro had an even more remarkable escape.

Jason Peake's corner was met my Mark Monington whose towering header was headed onto the Boro bar by Graeme Atkinson on the line, before the ball fell into the path of David Bayliss. But his header from two yards was hacked away by player coach and man of the match Jamie Hoyland.

The second half followed much the same pattern with Rochdale content to hit Morris and hope, Boro content to sit back and soak up the pressure.

In the final frantic minutes, it was heroic defending that saw Boro through and the Boro faithful's whistling of The Great Escape seems somehow apt. Having picked up 13 points from a possible 18 they may yet see the greatest escape of them all.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.