Ruel Sotiriou and Idris El Mizouni netted fine goals to put the hosts 2-0 up at the break, but Danny Lloyd halved the deficit before the hour.
And O’s had to soak up some pressure as the visitors pushed in search of an equaliser, before they could celebrate moving 10 points clear of Stevenage at the top of the table.
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“You have to give Rochdale a bit of credit, they stuck in there,” Wellens told the club website.
“First half we could’ve been out of sight, we were outstanding at times. Purposeful, played forward, played with a tempo, with real urgency, put loads of balls in the box and a lot of chances.
“Then you have to give them credit, they’ve come out, they’ve never wavered in terms of their energy levels and commitment.
“And we’ve got Prats ill, Moncs pulled out before the game because he’s ill, even though he was on the bench, then we’ve got Sweens, Vigs, Craig, a few more. We had a lot of players struggling.
“There’s an illness going around the camp, a couple of staff have got it, so we’re just pleased.
“At half-time you’re thinking ‘go and drive on’ I think the energy levels of us just disappeared pretty quickly and I think that’s just down to the illness going through everybody.”
Sotiriou came into the starting line-up in the only change from Saturday’s 1-1 draw at Walsall and fired O’s in front with his fourth goal of the campaign.
“That’s what Ruel can do, it’s a fantastic run through the gap between the centre-half and full-back, great pick out by Theo [Archibald] and a great finish, so really pleasing goal,” added Wellens.
“Our football in the first half was really fluid, we looked a good team.”
El Mizouni then doubled the advantage with an impressive strike of his own and earned some praise from his boss.
“It was an excellent performance for 60 minutes, but then my two midfield players decided to vacate the middle of the pitch far too often,” said Wellens.
“When it didn’t quite go our way and it bounced to them and they got a pass, Lloyd is a clever player, even though he’s playing on the left wing, he goes inside a lot so he’s really difficult for the full-back to follow him in all the time.
“That’s when you need one of your two defensive midfield players in there. The goal, both our centre midfield players are on the right wing, we then get him into a corner and it’s a really bad goal to concede.
“Really good performance and it’s exciting as well and I believe there’s a lot of players, Idris is one of them, where the performance is really good but there’s so much improvement in him.
“He’s just unlucky that I was a midfield players so I’m on him a little bit more than anybody else. He’s a talented boy but I do think there’s a lot of room for improvement.”
News of Stevenage being held to a 2-2 draw at Newport County was welcomed, although Steve Evans’ side have three games in hand, but Wellens was not surprised by that outcome.
“It just shows it’s a difficult league. When you look at the teams at the bottom or probably from the bottom to mid-table,” he added.
“Newport, difficult, I thought it was a good point at the time, but people weren’t happy because they expect us to win every game.
“Colchester have spent a load of money, Gillingham have spent a load of money, Stockport are going well now, Mansfield are going well now.
“The league has took a little bit of a turn where the bottom teams at the moment are stronger than the teams in and around the play-offs, apart from a couple.
“I’d said before the game, don’t expect it to be three or four-nil. We thought it might’ve been at half-time, but Rochdale don’t get beat heavily, they’re always in the game.
“They were unlucky to concede a late wonder goal at Northampton, they beat Bradford away, only lost 1-0 at Carlisle. It’s not easy, when you’ve got a committed team fighting for their lives.
“We were exciting first half, little bit disappointed and energy levels drained out of us second half, but I think you have to give Rochdale a lot of credit as well.”
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