Rochdale went down 4-2 at home to high flying Leyton Orient and again, poor defending was the cause. Sounds like a broken record doesn't it. Full report and ratings online now.

Another game, another defeat and another four goals conceded.  Not the best of times at Rochdale and we've now slipped to 7th following that result.

Steve Parkin said he wanted three points from these past three games, Grimsby away, Wycombe away and Orient at home.  Instead we've got zero points and have conceded an appalling eleven goals do to defending that would look poor in the Rochdale Sunday League.

Changes were made following the Wycombe debacle and Jaszczun was dropped and Goodhind and Holt suspended so Dale lined up with:  Gilks, Clarke, Gallimore, Boardman, Griffiths, Cartwright, Goodall, Brisco, Jones, Lambert and Tait.

Things didn't start off well at all and after just nine minutes, Orient were ahead.  I was stood talking to a couple of Sandy Lane regulars about how poor we are at set pieces and as soon as it was mentioned, bang, Orient go one up thanks to some more awful marking.  A quick Lockwood freekick found Gary Alexander all alone in the box and he was left with the simple task of guiding his header past Gilks. 

Great, just the start we needed.  Oh here we go again!

Actually, we were back in it about quarter of an hour later when Alan Goodall smashed in his third goal of the season.  Clarke put a cross in which found the head of Griffiths and the ball ended bouncing for Goodall who blasted it past Garner at the near post.

Maybe we can get something out of the game after all?

Nah.  About ten minutes after we equalised, we conceded another sloppy goal.  This time it was the dangerous Shane Tudor who scored.  He picked the ball up on the edge of the box and drove into the box, passing two defenders with no effort whatsoever before sending a rocket shot past Gilks into the very top corner.  It was an unbelievable finish which no keeper would have stopped and I'm surprised it didn't rip the net but he was given free entry to have a shot which isn't good enough. 

Back came the horrible negative thoughts that I'd suffered at Wycombe.

Shane Tudor decided he'd be very stupid and do his Grant Holt impression I.E pick up a stupid and needless yellow card as he took his shirt off when celebrating.  That came back to haunt him just before the half time break as he ending up picking up another yellow card for an awful challenge on Alan Goodall in front of the away supporters.  It was arguably a red card offence anyway but a yellow followed by a red was produced and he was on his way for an early bath.

I went into the second half thinking that we might just come out nick an equaliser and get back into the game.  There was a couple of times during the half when this looked fairly likely but the half got off to a poor start for Dale. 

The referee was a whole two yards away from a blatant handball on the edge of the Orient area but the referee waved play on and Orient went up the other end and scored.  Alexander received a fantastic through ball which the Dale defence were slow to react to and yet again were made to look silly as Alexander then went past them with ease and then round Gilks before smashing the ball into the back of the net for 3-1.

Parkin made a double substitution to try and get Dale back into the game and he took off Gallimore, one of our better players on the day and brought on Ernie Cooksey.  Blair Sturrock replaced a woeful Neil Brisco as Dale went 3-4-3.

Dale got a goal back which automatically sparked ambitious Shrewsbury 4-3 comeback visions but it was going to be too much to ask.  The goal came from substitute Blair Sturrock who scored his fifth goal of the season.  A baffling decision to give a corner after we headed over the bar was the key as from that corner we scored.  The corner came in, it was cleared to the edge of the box, it came back into the box and Sturrock helped it on with a volley from close range.  Dale were really back in it at 3-2 and the crowd got going again as Dale looked to get something out of the game.

Optimism of getting something out of the game was fairly high and Rickie Lambert got the equaliser when he shot past Garner inside the box after good work from Tait and the Dale fans started celebrating but that soon changed into hurling abuse at the referee as he disallowed it for something I don't anyone else saw.  Lambert, like the rest of us was utterly confused and angry that a seemingly good goal had been disallowed and he picked up a booking for arguing with the ref.

From this point on, any cheering from the Dale supporters was for a decision for us.  The first decision given our way was cheered although at the time I thought it was because for the first time in about 80 minutes, Jon Boardman won a header just before the foul!!

Any positive thoughts went out of the window shortly after that when more shambolic defending allowed John Mackie a completely free header at the back post from a free kick and he made it 4-2 to Orient.

The game finished 4-2 and you have to say it was again down to more garbage defending which cost us at the very least, three of the four goals.  We've now conceded 19 goals in just 6 games, 11 in our last 3.

I think it's clear that defensive signings will the priority in January as we're conceding goals at relegation rate and if it wasn't for our goals scored column then we'd be looking out for the results from Stockport, Torquay and Macclesfield games rather than Wycombe, Grimsby and Carlisle.

Anyway, sod the football for the next week, it's Christmas so don't get yourself down this festive season by thinking of the Dale results.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 6 Not at fault for any of the goals although Mr Angry was of a different opinion as usual

Jamie Clarke 6 Not too bad although I prefer him in midfield

Tony Gallimore 7 One of our better players though some will disagree with that

Jon Boardman 5 Not good enough yet for me, struggles when challenging for headers

Gareth Griffiths 6 Did ok though I think he was caught napping for their first

Lee Cartwright 6 Quiet game although did a couple of decent balls in

ALAN GOODALL 7 Best player for Dale.  Good goal and attacked well.

Neil Brisco 5 Another very poor display but not quite as bad as last week

Gary Jones 6 Tried to get the team going in the second half though was quiet in the first

Rickie Lambert 6 Had a perfectly good goal ruled out but another quiet game other than that

Paul Tait 6 Did ok, some encouraging signs though not the same as when we have Holt

Sub:  

Blair Sturrock 7 Had a very good impact when he came on.  Scored one and nearly had another

Ernie Cooksey 7 Excellent when he came on, should be the first name on the team sheet on Boxing Day with Brisco getting splinters in his arse on the bench at best

Photo: Action Images

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