We said: Rochdale 2-1 Hartlepool United
Defensively, the Pools have looked out of sorts and unsure of themselves through much of the campaign, and one solid outing is not enough to suggest they have fixed all of those deficiencies which we have seen this season.
Aside from their previous encounter, most of Rochdale's matches have been right there for the taking, and finding the back of the net against a unit as leaky as Pools should be a little easier for them than it has been in previous encounters.
Read more.Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Rochdale win with a probability of 47.17%. A draw had a probability of 27.5% and a win for Hartlepool United had a probability of 25.33%.
The most likely scoreline for a Rochdale win was 1-0 with a probability of 13.8%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.46%) and 2-1 (8.75%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.76%), while for a Hartlepool United win it was 0-1 (9.32%). The actual scoreline of 1-2 was predicted with a 5.9% likelihood.