Rochdale's horrendous run of 1 point from a possible 21 and it's all going Pete Tong. A rather depressing match report is online now with player ratings.

Right boys and girls, you can have your match report now (if you can stomach reading it!) as last night it was decided that football simply didn't exist after what we witnessed on the pitch yesterday afternoon.  I'm even finding it hard to describe it without using words deemed unacceptable for this website.  In fact, that seems quite a good description, unacceptable!

We've slipped to 15th after yesterday's defeat and it would seem that Steve Parkin is under a bit of pressure.  People are talking of a York City style collapse although it must be said, we're not there yet or even close to it, yet!  There was reason for optimism yesterday though and that's why it's so disappointing to lose the game.  Chris Dagnall was brought in on Friday initially on loan so he could play and reports suggest he's an exciting player to have on board.  Add to that the fact we were playing the team bottom of the league who had only won two games all season.  Surely a great chance to seal our first win in seven games and give the fans something to stop moaning about. 

To say it went quite wrong would be a huge understatement.  Dale put in one of their worst performances of the season and were beaten by a team already digging out directions for places like Gravesend, Dagenham and Woking.

Dale made some changes to the line-up.  Young Moyo Modise was given a start after a promising performance against Northampton.  Surprisingly, Chris Dagnall was left on the bench.  Even more surprisingly, Blair Sturrock was dropped for Paul Tait.  Dale lined up with a 4-3-3 formation consisting of Gilks, Goodhind, Goodall, Gallimore, Boardman, Warner, Jones, Cooksey, Moyo, Tait and Lambert.

Actually, Dale started off fairly well and looked to attack from the off.  They even managed a couple of half chances that failed to hit the target and failing to hit the target was something we did throughout.

With about ten minutes or so gone, Stockport took a surprise early lead but it was a very sloppy goal to give away though it looked spectacular.  You'd be disappointed if a Sunday League team like Dale Dynamos conceded a goal like this.  Goodhind managed to give the ball away cheaply and the ball was played into Jermaine Easter who Jon Boardman was marking.  Problem was, Boardman gave him far too much room and Easter was able to flick it up and overhead kick it over Gilks from twelve yards.  One question I was asking after that was "How in the name of God does someone about six foot two inches tall get lobbed from twelve yards??"  Gilks was off his line and very poorly positioned and in my view takes the majority of the blame.

From then on Rochdale were awful and barely created any half chances let alone good ones.  Paul Tait had a shot deflected wide of the post but that was about it for the first half.  Jon Boardman was having an absolute nightmare and was very nearly sent off but for Goodhind being close to him when he brought someone down.

Warren Goodhind picked up a knock in the first half and was replaced by Lee Cartwright as Dale went to a 3-4-3 formation.

It didn't work and Dale didn't look any more likely to score.  In fact it was the opposite for the most part as Stockport continued to press and nearly bagged a second as a looping header seemed destined for the net after Gilks slipped while diving to save it but managed to claw it away.

At long last, Chris Dagnall made it onto the pitch after sixty five minutes as he replaced Paul Tait who hadn't done much at all.

Dale looked to attack finally with the introduction of the new lad and his performance was quite encouraging early on.  We even managed to get an effort on target!  Alan Goodall headed a Lambert corner and Spencer pulled off an excellent save to push it over.

That was the high point of the match as far as Dale were concerned and Stockport should have made it 2-0 shortly after.  The excellent Matthew Hamshaw was brought down in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.  A mate in the WMG informed me it was a dive and should have been given the other way.  One fan showed his anger by going on the pitch and confronting Hamshaw telling him that he dived though I suspect he already knew that!

Anyway, the penalty was ballooned over the bar which gave the Dale fans a brief reason to smile.

There was nothing worth reporting after that and Dale couldn't find an equaliser and were booed off the pitch by a very disappointed bunch of Dale fans.

In fact, the best thing about the whole game was the Morrissey song played at the end as we were walking out sulking.

Promotion push is now over.

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 5 He got lobbed from 12 yards, awful.

Warren Goodhind 5 Gave the ball away and looked like he could get sent off and he was only on for the first half!  Poor performance

Alan Goodall 6 Not bad, got forward and tried to create but this left us exposed at times

Tony Gallimore 6 As per usual, one of our better defenders

Jon Boardman 3 Awful.  He really did look like he was in the wrong division today

Scott Warner 6 Ran about a lot and got stuck in but too many passes went astray

Gary Jones 6 Same as Warner

Ernie Cooksey 4 Dunno what happened to him but he was awful.  Had a few early chances but you could tell it wasn't going to be his day

CLIVE MOYO MODISE 7 Best Dale player by a long long way.  Ran for 90 minutes and caused a few problems.  This is a YTS player showing more dedication and willingness than the first team.  Unacceptable!

Rickie Lambert 5 It seemed like Moyo was our only front man yesterday, the other two were very poor.  Lambert did a nice few touches but nothing more

Paul Tait 5 Don't think he won more than 2 headers all game and looked lightweight and very poor

Subs:  

Lee Cartwright 6 Came on at right back and was better than Goodhind

Chris Dagnall 6 Came on when we were playing awful and therefore wasn't able to have an impact

Blair Sturrock 6 Not on long enough to do anything

Photo: Action Images

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