Apologies for it being late but had very limited net access this week until today. If you can bear it, here is the report and ratings from Tuesday night.

What in god's name happened there?! After an hour we were 1-0 up and looking like we could beat what looked to be a very good side worthy of their lofty league position.  There was only one team in it to this point.  When the full time whistle blew, it was 4-1 to Grimsby! 

Usually what Parkin says at half time works and we come out for the second half all guns blazing but his instructions of keep it simple fell on deaf ears on Tuesday night which was something the boss was none too pleased about afterwards.

One change was made to the team that beat Shrewsbury ten days beforehand as Dale welcomed back Warren Goodhind who replaced the suspended Gary Brown.  Gilks was in goal with Goodhind, McArdle, Gallimore and Goodall in defence.  The three man midfield again consisted of Jamie Clarke, Neil Brisco and Gary Jones with Lambert, Sturrock and Holt leading the line up front.

The game seemed quite open in the opening half hour with both sides creating chances.  Grant Holt nearly scored his umpteenth goal for us this season when he headed off target.  Grimsby did look decent in attack though and looked dangerous coming forward.

The opener came just less than half an hour into the game.  Holty did well down the left and managed to beat his man before pinging a cross to the back spud where Lambert was in acres of space to volley it home making it 1-0.

Grimsby did get into the game more from then on but Dale were deservedly ahead and didn't really look like conceding other than from set pieces when the monster Rob Jones went up.  One effort of which was cleared off the line by Jamie Clarke.

There was one minor effort for Gilks to deal with just before half time but it was no more than a half chance. 

Rochdale went in at half time 1-0 up away at a team higher in the league and when you lie in fourth, that makes it an even bigger achievement. 

The second half started even better for Rochdale and for the first fifteen minutes or so of the second half, we bossed it.  We continued to press for another goal to give us a comfortable lead but good defending saw that it remained 1-0.  We didn't look like we were coming away from Blundell Park with anything less than three points at this stage, that was, until the hour mark. 

It became noticeable to me and I commented at the time on it, that we had let them back into the game a little which was a dangerous thing to do.

Tony Gallimore had to clear one off the line and this bit of pressure that Grimsby were building soon paid off as a couple of minutes later, Grimsby were level.  Michael Reddy was the key to the comeback and he kicked things off by making Rory McArdle look very silly by skinning him too easily on the half way line, he then managed to drive forward to the edge of the box and crossed to the Grimsby Gary Jones at the near post who finished with ease.

Dale were level at 1-1 and I was thinking, ok, need not panic, 1-1 is a good result and before I'd finished thinking, it was bloody 2-1!  A corner was swung in from the right and Cohen was left pretty much unchallenged and he headed past Gilks.

That was it then, there was no letting up and we were going home with nowt.  The monster made it 3-1 when he blasted the ball into the back of the net from 12 yards out following a scramble.

Dale went to a 4-4-2 with Blair Sturrock making way for Tommy Jaszczun and I said at the time that if he's bringing Tommy on, Cartwright should be on at the same time to give us decent wing options rather than sticking Brisco on the right.  Ten minutes after Tommy came on, Cartwright came on for Brisco!

I thought 3-1 was going to be it but deep into stoppage time Grimsby made it 4-1.  It was only fitting really that the best player on the pitch that night was to get the winner and it was a superb goal.  Michael Reddy picked up the ball in his own half, absolutely skinned Goodhind making him look very poor in the process, ran goalwards and with very quick feet, took the ball round Gilks and finished.

Thankfully the referee blew for full time before any more could be scored!

What can we put it down to then?  As soon as I saw the Grimsby team come out my immediate thought was, why is Griff not playing?  Michael Reddy and Gary Jones are both very big strikers who will always cause a threat.  Added to that the monster that was Rob Jones at the back for Grimsby who would go on to win every header he challenged for and was a big danger at set pieces.  Basically, we missed someone who can head a ball out of defence.  McArdle and Gallimore can't head for toffee and that has become apparent in recent games so against a side like Grimsby, you need someone who can dominate in the air and we simply didn't.

The stats don't make pleasant reading either as we've now conceded 31 goals from our 20 league games.  Yes, we've scored 39 which is nearly two a game but we can't go into games knowing we're going to have to score 3 because we're going to concede 2.  It's worth pointing out that while Griffiths has been out of the side and McArdle and Gallimore in, we've conceded 10 goals from just 4 league games.

I did come away thinking that the scoreline in no way reflected the game overall but it must be pretty demoralising to be 1-0 up with less than half an hour left and concede four in that remaining time.  Will that have an effect on the game tomorrow?  Hopefully it will spark a comeback from Dale and lets face, Wycombe have to lose sometime!

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 6 No real chance with any of the goals

Warren Goodhind 5 Got skinned for two goals and was made to look poor by Reddy

Alan Goodall 6 Our worst player in the first half but improved slightly in the second

Rory McArdle 5 Poor.  Weak in the air and got skinned for their equaliser.  Decent prospect but we need Griff back with Gallimore

Tony Gallimore 7 Superb in the first half and nothing really he could do in the second half

JAMIE CLARKE 7 Our best player.  Was immense in the first half, won everything he went for.  Faded in the second half along with our chances of a win

Neil Brisco 6 Did ok.  Wouldn't be in the team if Cooksey's fit though

Gary Jones 6 Not bad overall and he covered every blade of grass

Blair Sturrock 5 Very poor in the first half and was subbed off in the second half

Rickie Lambert 6 Scored the goal but did bugger all else

Grant Holt 6 Worked hard as usual and set the goal up but very little else went right for him

Sub:  

Tommy Jaszczun 6 Did ok when he came on

Lee Cartwright 6 Should have been on earlier

Paul Tait 6 Impressive in the couple of minutes he got

Photo: Action Images

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