A magnificant Dale performance and almost certain win was cruelly snatched away by Macclesfield but Dale can take plenty out of this and know they played wonderfully.......

NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rochdale were absolutely shocking!  A performance worse than that of Lincoln away under Paul Simpleson!  The Dale faithful gave their opinions throughout the game and at the end of the game with booing that could possibly be heard in Poynton!

Dale started the cold night in Macclesfield with the same team as Saturday which saw us draw away at Lincoln with 10 men meaning that Gilks was in net, Evans at right back, Simpkins at left back with Griffiths and Burgess at centre back.  The midfield consisted of Bertos on the right, Shuker on the left and Brannan and McClare in the middle with McEvilly once again partnering Antoine-Curier up front.  The bench was the same as Saturday also with Edwards, Townson, Strachan, Grand and Doughty all on the bench.

It was not the best of starts by Rochdale and the first half basically consisted of Macclesfield making Gilks work very hard by testing him at every opportunity with most efforts coming from the diving sensation that is John Miles and "the fat one, the shit one" David Flitcroft.

David Flitcroft was shooting from everywhere and on a couple of occasions made tough work for Matt Gilks who was up to the task.  There were a couple of times during the game that he got a shot on goal and residents of Stockport were more in danger than anyone in the ground, especially Gilks! 

The only time Dale got near the Macclesfield goal was when new striker Mickael Antoine-Curier scored but his header was deemed offside by the linesman. 

The first half ended goal-less with Macc having most of the game and getting the better of the chances.

The second half was more entertaining............................................for about 7 minutes!!!!

Dale took the lead when Chris Shuker found himself in lots of space down the left wing after a good pass from Antoine-Curier and he cut inside and placed the ball beyond Myhill in the Macclesfield net on 51 minutes to send Dale 1-0 up and give the decent Dale following something to cheer about!

Some awful Dale play from then on led to the inevitable.  Wayne Evans was caught at the back when all he had to do was clear it and the cross came in from Adams and Burgess put the ball in his own net past Gilks to make the score 1-1 on 67 minutes.

This didn't spark anything that resembled decent football for Dale and they were absolutely shocking for the remainder of the game with Simpkins and Brannan standing out as Dale fans wondered what they had done wrong in previous lives to witness such performances from so called footballers!

And..............guess what!  Yes I think you may have guessed it!  Macclesfield scored again!  It took less than 10 minutes since the last goal as well and you'll never guess who the culprit was!..............give up?..........SIMPKINS!  He gave away a free kick on the edge of the box.  I didn't see how as by this time I had already lost the will to open my eyes for the fear of what I might see as Macc broke.  Anyway, I knew what was coming and they scored.  Danny Whittacker placed the ball past the diving Gilks who to be fair was having a bad night with his kicking and most people agreed it was time for an Edwards recall.

The game was virtually over with Dale playing as bad as I have seen in a long time!  It didn't get any better and many fans left early and you couldn't for one second blame them!!  Those who stayed booed the team off and left rather embarrassed at the outcome and performance!

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 5 Kicking was woeful at times, just doesn't give you any confidence when he's in net

Wayne Evans 5 At fault for the first goal and was caught out a few times

Michael Simpkins 3 And a generous 3 at that!!!  What does he bring to the team other than stupidity and mistakes??

Gareth Griffiths 4 Awful, unstable, everything went past him with ease

Daryl Burgess 6 Despite the own goal was one of the better players.  Played well first half

Leo Bertos 5 Looked lost for most of the game

Chris Shuker 6 Scored and tried hard to create without much luck

Sean McClare 5 Game passed him by.  Some awful touches and passes

Ged Brannan 3 Just as generous as Simpkins!  Taxi for Brannan, going back to Wigan please, will give tip if delivered properly!

Lee McEvilly 5 Very poor.  Won nothing against the non-league defence.  Cant wait for Connor to come back

Mickael Antoine-Curier 6 Tried hard but not much went his way

Subs:  

Kevin Townson 6 Not on too long but didn't do too bad

Craig Strachan 5 Some poor first touches and a woeful freekick but its his first game

Photo: Action Images

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