Rochdale outclassed Walsall to win 3-0 at the Banks's Stadium, and it could have been six.
Saddlers' goalkeeper Neil Etheridge won the man-of-the-match award as he kept out several other goal-bound shots from the on-fire visitors, who ran the match from start to finish against the team who began the day top of League 1.
Rochdale made a blistering start and after Ian Henderson had skimmed the bar in the first minute they took the lead on three minutes, Callum Cannon pulling the ball back sweetly for Henderson to drill home his 10th goal of the season from close range.
Walsall had no answer to the visitors' high workrate and ability in the air and Etheridge had to save another rising drive from Peter Vicente.
It was the same story in the second half when Calvin Andrew headed in a 58th-minute corner from star man Donal McDermott, and Rochdale rubbed it in with a third drilled home by Andrew from McDermott's low cross on 77 minutes as Walsall's five-match winning run came to an abrupt end.
Walsall never managed a shot on target and were passed at the summit by Burton and Gillingham, while Coventry are just a point behind them after a 5-0 win over Crewe.