Dale crashed to their 4th away defeat of the season at the hands of Darlington and referee Uriah Rennie. An Ian Clark penalty 12 minutes from time settled the game which seemed destined to finish goal-less.

Dale went into the game with Keiron Durkan on the left replacing Matt Doughty. Dave Flitcroft came into the team on the right of midfield obviously to give the opposition a good kicking.

For most of the first half Dale looked the better side and had a number of good chances, two in particular which fell to Townson. The first he hit wide from a narrow angle and the second was a curling effort from the edge of the box which the keeper made a bit of a meal of. At the other end Gilkes was barely tested asides from one shot and when he came flapping at a cross.

The second half was a different story though and one filled with controversy. With not too long gone our young star Kevin Townson was sent off. He reacted angrily to a tackle and ended up headbutting the opposition player, really leaving Rennie with no choice than to send him off. From then on Dale looked to be on the back foot and we started defending deeper and deeper and inviting pressure on to us.

It was a good job though that the Darlington attack wasn't up to much as they rarely troubled Gilkes asides from one excellent save he had to make. In all honesty they probably could of played all night and not scored their finishing was that bad. But step up Uriah Rennie to hand the three points to the home side.

A shot was drilled into the Dale box which hit a Wayne Evans on the arm. The shot came from about 5 yards from the Evans at full pace giving him no chance of getting out of the way of it. His hands were by his side and in no way did he try and stop the ball with his hands. Yet Mr Rennies sees this as cause for a penalty! What planet is he on!? The kick was dispatched by Clark and the game was all but over.

Connor who had come on for Durkan had a great chance in the dying seconds to get an equaliser but somehow he managed to head over the bar from about 1 yard out, similar to his miss just days earlier at Tamworth. It wasn't to be though for Dale and we could not manage to get a draw which would of of been a fair result.

As the final whistle went Dave Hamilton our caretaker manager came storming off the bench to confront Rennie, who was escorted from the pitch by the stewards, as boos echoed around the away end at Feethams. Not a good night for Mr Rennie. I'm sure Cullenwatch will have a field day!

Is there cause for concern then at Dale? The last two performances have been less than inspiring to say the least. Tonight I thought we was good enough value for a point, and we did not deserve to lose, but we didn't deserve to win either. Heads held high though, lets get back to winning ways on Saturday.

Photo: Action Images

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