Jim Bentley insists Rochdale’s 2-0 victory against promotion-chasing Stevenage will bolster belief among his squad in their fight for Sky Bet League Two survival.

First-half goals from Devante Rodney and Danny Lloyd handed Dale their first home win since November.

Although the result still leaves them bottom of the division, Bentley’s men closed the gap between themselves and safety to four points.

He said: “The table doesn’t lie, we haven’t been good enough, Stevenage certainly have. So for us to beat them means we don’t have to fear anyone in this division.

“It’s a big win for us and one that we’ve needed. There’s no better place to get back on track than in front of your own fans, giving them something to shout about and sending them home happy. We haven’t done that enough, but this was a thoroughly deserved win.

“When you lose games it’s easy to point at things and say this or that is the problem but we’ve been competitive in every game. So we’ve kept believing in ourselves, we’re working hard and we’ve had a good week.

“The good thing is, you want a team to reflect you and I work hard and I care and that’s what the players did.

“We are open to criticism because the results haven’t been good enough but I do honestly believe we’ve been in every game and lots of little things have gone against us.

“We’ve been criticised and it is difficult but the lads have come in every day, worked hard, competed and put their bodies on the line. That makes me proud.

“When you get a goal, obviously that gives you something to cling on to and it was great we could go on and get a second.”

Rodney opened the scoring after seven minutes, converting Abraham Odoh’s pass. Odoh was involved in the second, feeding Ethan Brierley who in turn found Lloyd and he netted from eight yards.

Dale stopper Richard O’Donnell made good saves to deny Jordan Roberts and Jake Taylor, while Roberts hit the foot of the post late on, with the rebound fired over by Taylor from close range.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “For 45 minutes we were atrocious in everything we did, the defending for the two goals in particular. It was as poor as it could get for the calibre of player we had on the pitch.

“I thought we were unlucky with a couple of blocked shots in the first half, but we still could have been three or four down by half time.

“We tried to affect it after the second goal went in and again at half time. But when you play 45 minutes like we did in the first half you are not going to win especially when you’re playing against a team led by Jim Bentley, who’s a fighter himself.”