A bad evening at Spotland as we crash out of the Carling Cup 5-0 to Bradford City and have captain Gary Jones for kicking out at a Bradford player. Full match report now online with player ratings.

Rochdale were dumped out of the Carling Cup in the first round by Bradford City at Spotland.  It was a night Rochdale will want to forget as they went down 5-0 to their Yorkshire opponents.

Steve Parkin was without Gareth Griffiths and Neil Brisco again so it was the same side that beat Leyton Orient on Saturday by four goals to one.  Matt Gilks was in goal with Jamie Clarke, Alan Goodall, Tony Gallimore and Jon Boardman in defence.  Lee Cartwright, Tommy Jaszczun, Gary Jones and Ernie Cooksey lined up in midfield with Grant Holt and Rickie Lambert up front.  On the bench were Danny Woodhall, Kevin Gibbins, Scott Warner, Ben Kitchen and Blair Sturrock.

With just seven minutes of play gone, Bradford were ahead through their star man Dean Windass.  Richard Edgehill swung a good cross in and Windass volleyed the ball past Gilks to make it 1-0 to Bradford though questions could definitely be asked about the defending, yet again.

Rochdale got into the game and looked very capable of scoring and they should have been awarded a penalty.  A ball was swung in from Cartwright but it was blocked quite clearly by a hand but the referee waved it away.  This was just one example of complete and utter incompetence from the referee.

Cartwright managed an effort on goal shortly after but after he did well to cut inside, he didn't get enough power on his shot and it was easily saved by the keeper.

Grant Holt could have levelled things for Rochdale but his effort on the turn was well saved.

A freekick was awarded to Bradford within shooting distance and Bridge-Wilkinson made Gilks pull off an excellent fingertip save.

The resulting corner saw Bradford score their second goal as former Everton striker Danny Cademarteri headed home with ease to make it 2-0 five minutes before the break.

Dale managed a couple of half chances just before the half time whistle blew with Holt narrowly missing and Goodall having a header pushed over the bar.

The whistle blew for half time and Dale were 2-0 down.

With about fifteen minutes of the half gone, Parkin opted to play 4-3-3 and brought Blair Sturrock on for Tommy Jaszczun who hadn't been impressive at all.

Alan Goodall nearly got Dale back into the game with a superb run from the left back position, he beat two Bradford players to get into the box where he beat another but was tackled just as he was set to unleash a shot on goal.

Dean Windass put the game beyond doubt minutes after with a header at the near post which flew past Gilks and into the back of the net to make it 3-0 to Bradford.

With quarter of an hour left Dale were a man down.  Gary Jones and Celtic reject Bobby Petta went in for a 50/50 which Jones didn't like and he then kicked out at the Dutchman to which Petta reacted by pushing Jones in the chest.  Surely a red card or a yellow for both players?  Nope, not with the complete idiot that was Carl Boyeson who sent Gary Jones off with a straight red and only gave Petta a yellow card.  A moment of utter stupidity from the Dale captain, no doubting that but the fact Petta wasn't also given his marching order was a disgrace.  It summed up a horrendous performance from the officials really.

The game was already dead and buried and Dean Windass added salt to the wound by heading past Gilks to get his hatrick.  To be fair it was a deserved hatrick from Windass who had been superb all night and showed why he scored 28 goals last season.  This made it 4-0 to Bradford.

With not long left, 4-0 became 5-0 when Marc Bridge-Wilkinson fired from distance past Gilks with an excellent shot which looked like it was going in from the second it left his boot.

The game finally finished and it was an awful night for the Dale.  They've lost their captain for three games after a stupid sending off.  Two of the new recruits look poor at home, our defending was awful and has been in the five games, Grant Holt got booked again meaning he is just one away from suspension, Griff is still out injured and Brisco is still suspended.  Ah well, at least we're still 6th in the league!

Player Ratings:

Matt Gilks 6 Conceded 5 but not at fault for any.

Jamie Clarke 6 Looks a bit lost when it comes to defending.

Alan Goodall 7 Please Mr Parkin, put him at left wing!  He's better at going forward than Jaz!  Good performance from Gooders.

Tony Gallimore 6 Did well in parts but poorly in others.  Was up against a very good attack though.  Not strong in the air.

Jon Boardman 6 Still looks a little suspect at times.  It will come with experience though I'm sure

Lee Cartwright 5 Again, he's failed to produce anything like a performance at home!

Tommy Jaszczun 5 See Cartwright!

Gary Jones 5 Stupid red card and a poor performance

Ernie Cooksey 7 Good game for Ernie, one of the better players

RICKIE LAMBERT 7 Fantastic ability on the ball and it showed again last night. My M.O.T.M

Grant Holt 6 Struggled for the first time this season and picked up another booking.

Sub:  

Blair Sturrock 7 Came on and looked lively

Photo: Action Images

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