Dale slumped to another defeat, this time going down 3-1 at high-flying Scunthorpe. A Paddy McCourt goal was all Dale could muster.

The news that Simpson was set to be manager for the forseeable future, seemingly had filtered throughout the away end before the start of the game, and for some strange reason, losing last night didn't even seem that big of a deal. Maybe we are getting used to it now, maybe we expect it.

Dale announced a few changes to the starting line-up. Clive Platt was dropped in place of Paul Connor, Simpson started instead of Melaugh, and Evans was on the bench following his brain scan, giving Simon Grand a welcome return to first team action.

Scunthorpe started brightly and took the lead after only a few minutes. A through ball was played down the flank, and despite the player being AT LEAST five yards offside, the linesman was 10 yards behind play, the cross came in, and Hayes applied the finish.

Dale though were not to go down that easily, and almost immediately grabbed an equaliser. Paddy McCourt dazzled the defence with some silky skills before drilling the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Dale were doing alright, but Scunthorpe looked the better side by a million miles, it had been a slight improvement by Dale in the first half, but not much. Scunthorpe once again took the lead though on the half hour mark. Kilford drilled in a low shot, which Matty Gilks got a full hand to, but it still squirmed into the net. Think Gilks will be disappointed with it, seemed like he should have saved it.

The second half was a similar story, with Scunthorpe very much on top. Dale couldn't get out of their own half for the first 30 minutes or so of the half, and it was no surprise when Scunthorpe extended their lead. Hayes danced through a static Dale defence, before curling a low shot at goal, Gilks did excellent to stop it, but the rebound fell back to Hayes, and he tapped the ball into the empty net.

Evil and Paddy had gone off, and Platt and Super Kevin Townson came on. Straight from the restart after the goal, Simpson played a superb ball through the defence, leaving Connor one on one with the keeper, somehow though he managed to smack the ball against the bar, when it looked easier to score!

And that was about it from Dale, we then had a lot of possession but as usual did nothing with it. Two shots on target all night, compared with double figures from Scunthorpe, and its easy to see why we are struggling. Gilks again had to make another great save low down near the end, making up for his possible mistake for the second goal.

Scunthorpe by far the better side over the 90 minutes, a yard quicker than us all the time (same as every other team we have played this season). And how Simpson can complain that the score-line flattered the home side is beyond me, if they had scored 5 or 6 we could not have complained. We were outclassed, and it simply is not good enough.

Photo: Action Images

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