Rochdale boss hopes team will learn from Black Cats mauling
ANNOYED Keith Hill felt his ROCHDALE side shot themselves in the foot during their 4-1 defeat at Sunderland.
The Dale boss was fuming after admitting his side were beaten by a Black Cats team playing at only 80 per cent of their best in the League One clash.
“The lads have worked so hard and then undid all that hard work,” said Hill. “But it’s a true reflection of the game and the lack of mental consistency that you need as an individual or a group of players to consistently turn out positive results, and that’s the big difference between the two sides.
“We shot ourselves in the foot so I’m disappointed, but I hope it’s a learning curve for the players.
“To be honest, Sunderland played at probably 80pc and won 4-1, and that’s annoying from my perspective because I expect us to be better than that. I expect us to be better than a little bit of self-implosion, because for 37 minutes we were reasonably happy.”
Sunderland dominated from the outset and blitzed Dale with three goals in the space of eight minutes at the end of the first half.
Josh Maja opened the scoring and Lynden Gooch doubled the lead from the penalty spot after being felled by Oliver Rathbone.
Maja added a third on the stroke of half-time and although Calvin Andrew and Ian Henderson forced good saves out of Jon McLaughlin at the start of the second half, Dale’s defeat was confirmed when Gooch drilled a low finish into the corner.
Rochdale claimed a consolation as substitute Matthew Done converted Jordan Williams’ low cross.
OLDHAM came back from two goals down in the last five minutes to secure a draw with Colchester at Boundary Park in League One.
Luke Norris’ double and a Harry Pell strike had the visitors cruising, but Sam Surridge’s second of the game started the comeback, which was completed by Peter Clarke in the 88th minute.
BURY finished with 10 men in their 1-0 defeat at Carlisle after Jerry Yates was sent off in the dying minutes. Richie Bennett scored the only goal of the game as the Shakers lost at Gigg Lane for the first time this season.
Jermaine Beckford, making his return as a substitute having been out since October 28, came closest for Bury with a second-half effort.
Meanwhile, MACCLESFIELD are still searching for their first victory of the campaign after they lost 2-1 at Morecambe.
BOLTON held out with 10 men for an hour as they drew 0-0 with Ipswich after having Marc Wilson sent off.