Dale edge to the drop via one of their own
ROCHDALE manager Brian Barry-Murphy admitted his side got just what they deserved in their defeat by Fleetwood.
League One’s bottom side remain deep in relegation trouble after Eoghan O’Connell’s own goal handed the Cod Army victory.
And the Dale boss hopes his side can bounce back when they host Swindon on Tuesday night.
“I’m really disappointed” he said.
“In terms of our play over the past couple of weeks I think we’ve put in some really good performances but we didn’t show up, we didn’t play well and we didn’t deserved anything from the game.
“I’m disappointed in myself because we haven’t got the players in the right condition.
“If you play as we did today you leave yourself open to something like the own goal happening. We didn’t have enough moments at the other end and we created little.
“Picking the lads up is easy, we’re good at bouncing back. We’ve had a lot of difficult times. At the moment, it feels very disappointing, but we can bounce back.”
Dale struggled to keep hold of the ball for much of the first half, and their cause wasn’t helped by losing striker Matty Done to injury just 10 minutes in.
They did have the best goalscoring opportunity of the half as Done’s replacement Kwadwo Baah sliced a shot horribly.
But Ryan McLaughlin retrieved the ball to set up Olly Rathbone, this time the gathering of defenders blocking his shot on the line.
Fleetwood’s best first-half opening saw former Dale midfielder Callum Camps send an acrobatic effort wide. But Rochdale’s hopes of escaping the drop took a turn for the worse shortly after the restart when Janoi Donacien and Wes Burns combined on the right, the latter’s cross hitting the visiting captain’s shin and rolling over the line, with Dale failing to offer much in response.
Fleetwood boss Simon Grayson said: “It was a game where we had to be on it. It was difficult because the pitch was really lively and it wasn’t easy to pass the ball around, but we } defended well, (goalkeeper) Alex Cairns has hardly had a save to make.
“We can play better, but it’s about results at this stage of the season. Pitches are not great and that can affect you.”