Disappointment on road for Robbie
ROCHDALE were unable to transport their improved home form onto the road as they fell to a Good Friday defeat at Stevenage Borough.
The visitors went into the game with confidence restored by a return of seven points from their previous three games.
But a 1-0 win for the home side saw Dale’s opponents lift themselves out of the League Two drop zone – with Oldham now second bottom and looking favourites to join Keith Hill’s Scunthorpe as the clubs dropping out of the Football League.
Helping out the neighbours was not part of Robbie Stockdale’s agenda and his disappointment was centred purely around Dale’s performance.
Ahead of the Easter Monday clash at home against Hartlepool United, he said: “We knew Stevenage would come out pretty strong. We saw the first threat on 15 minutes and had a lot of ball and a lot of possession in their half, but I think all afternoon we rarely threatened any really clear cut opportunities and that’s the really disappointing thing.
“On the back of where we were, after the three home games, it feels like we’ve taken two steps back. The players know my feelings on that and the good thing is that we’ve got another opportunity at home on Monday to put it right.
“It’s alright having the ball and stats - this, that and the other - but we didn’t really threaten the goalkeeper and that’s something we’ve been alright at over the the couple of weeks, so it’s frustrating.”
Scott Cuthbert scored the only goal of the game three minutes after the break, heading home from a corner – another source of disappointment for the Dale chief.
“The message was clear at half-time. We knew they’d come out strong again, so [the message was to] see that off and get control of the game, but the set-play has done us,” said Stockdale.
“As I reiterated all the way through our good run, clean sheets are paramount and we didn’t get one.
“If we do, it gives us something to hold on to and the game opens up a bit and we find more space and gaps to exploit, but we gave them that encouragement and a head start in the game and we couldn’t claw it back.”
Stockdale confirmed that both Liam Kelly and George Broadent were missing from the matchday squad through injury.
“Liam flagged up an injury. He travelled with us and had a fitness test but didn’t pass.
“George Broadbent got injured (on Thursday) as well. He pulled his hamstring, so it looks like we’ll be without him for the remainder of the season as well.
“James Ball is also injured and obviously all if these injuries come in the one position, which isn’t helpful. We’ve got the option to recall Ethan from his loan at Spennymoor which we might look to do.
“But, you know, Eoghan (O’connell) has played in that position plenty of times, so has Jimmy Keohane.”