An awful performance saw Rochdale slump to a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Carlisle at Spotland this afternoon. Match report and player ratings now online

Rochdale went into today's game on the back of a hard working and gutsy performance against Wolves in the FA Cup 5th round but the same team that played at Wolves were responsible for the performance today which saw Dale lose 1-0 at home to Carlisle Utd in one of the worst performances of the season.

The game started quite lively with Rochdale goalkeeper Matthew Gilks pulling off 2 superb saves from Mark Hudson and Richie Foran after 10 minutes and from then on the game was mainly dominated by a Stuart Green inspired Carlisle Utd.  

Rochdale did manage to get a few shots in though when they decided to play some football, albeit 30 odd minutes into the game when Dale's first effort saw a Clive Platt header superbly saved by Carlisle keeper Matthew Glennon after Paul Simpson crossed from a free kick.  Simpson then had Dale's next chance when his 25 yard free kick cannoned off the post.

With minutes remaining in the first half, David Flitcroft sent Gavin Melaugh through with a superb through ball but keeper Matthew Glennon was alert and was able to cut him off and clear the ball.

The second half started almost exactly as the first half did with Carlisle starting very brightly and looking very dangerous from the kick-off and just a few minutes after the restart Carlisle broke and Matt Gilks pulled off another good save from Richie Foran resulting in a corner.

The inevitable Carlisle goal then came just after the hour mark when some awful Dale defending saw new Carlisle player Stuart Green place the ball home from 6 yards but if he had missed it then maybe one of the 3 unmarked defenders on the back post could have scored!

From then on it was one way traffic and Carlisle had the chance to go 2-0 up when ex Leeds youth player Craig Farrell was clean through on goal but went down after it seems that Gareth Griffiths may have caught him but the referee thankfully waved it away and play continued. 

Rochdale then brought on Paddy McCourt to try and get going and it worked with the Irish wonder kid drifting past 2 and playing the ball into the box but no-one managed to get on the end of it.  Clive Platt went off injured half way through the second half resulting in last seasons top scorer Kevin Townson coming on and he played quite well, creating a few problems for the Carlisle defenders. 

It was Townson who could have got the equaliser for Dale but his shot went wide of Glennon's goal.  Then Dale should have got that goal when Rory Patterson, who had come on for Simpson with 5 minutes to go, had a great chance but was unable to put the ball in.

All in all a very poor display from Rochdale resulting in Carlisle taking away the 3 points and they were totally deserved.  The final whistle was greeted with plenty of booing from the supporters who somehow managed to stay until the end.

The playoff's looked a realistic chance before today's game but after witnessing what we did today, it seems we were getting our ambitions mixed up with our capabilities somewhat!

PLAYER RATINGS:

Matthew Gilks 8 Superb, the only positive out of our performance, numerous superb saves

Wayne Evans 6 Often caught out for pace but then again the whole defence was poor

Gareth Griffiths 6 Won a few headers but was generally poor

Simon Grand 6 Won a few tackles and was probably the best of a bad defence today

Stephen Hill 6 Got forward whenever possible but his crossing and defending was poor

Scott Warner 5 Never got into the game and everything he touched went wrong unfortunately

Gavin Melaugh 6 Not too bad but not as good as recent games

David Flitcroft 6 Decent first half but was poor second half

Paul Simpson 6 His crossing left a lot to be desired and continuously hoofed the ball up field but hit the post with a freekick

Lee McEvilly 5 Outfought nearly all match, not something that usually happens

Clive Platt 6 Had some good chances but failed to finish them

Subs:  

Patrick McCourt 7 Provided the spark Dale needed and caused Carlisle more than a few problems, failed to track back though.

Kevin Townson 7 Played quite well and caused problems for Carlisle

Rory Patterson 6 Not really on long enough to be classed as bad or good but had a good chance

Photo: Action Images

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