Another 'great' display from Dale as they crashed to Scunthorpe 2-1 at home. In a match marred by dirty tackles and bookings, Dale were beaten once again.

After the performance at Hull, you would have thought Dale would have been a little keener to try and grab the points, at home to an average Scunthorpe side. But once again Dale were left licking their wounds and once again had nothing to show for their 'efforts'.

Much had been made of Lee Hodges return, and what better time to show the Dale fans what he was made of against his former club. Wrong. The Hodges show never even got going, and by the time he showed some signs of quality we was already trailing.

Lee McEvilly as expected stepped into the starting line-up to replace the suspended Clive Platt. There was no Neil Edwards in the starting line-up for Dale. Heard he missed the game due to a tooth problem. Matt Gilks stepped in, and it was his mistake which cost Dale the first goal.

The first half was a very boring affair. Scunthorpe tried to play good football, and went closest. A short range shot being saved well by Gilks. At the other end as usual Dale were creating very little. A Jobson shot was blazed over the bar from close range, and another long range drive from Connor went over the bar.

The first half also saw Wayne Evans limp off with an injury. He was replaced by Paddy McCourt. Michael Oliver for some unknown reason dropped to right back, despite being left footed.

The game was completely marred by the refereeing performance though. Several Dale players booked for innocuous challenges, including Dave Flitcroft who in fact was booked for having the ball kicked at him.

The second half saw Scunthorpe once again press forward and they got a deserved goal. A low shot was hit straight at Gilks who flapped at it, and it fell to 'hero' Carruthers to bang in the first of his brace.

Not soon later and all hell broke lose. Lee Hodges and Matthew Sparrow flew in for a tackle, one that Bishop didn't take too kindly too. Next thing you know and Sparrow kicked out towards Hodges. Automatic red card, giving the referee no choice at all. A mass brawl ensued and it looked as though more players would walk, but thankfully for once in the game the referee saw sense.

You would think this would spur Dale on to grab an equaliser, but Scunthorpe simply added to their lead. A cross came in and for some unknown reason Jobson flicked a header backwards, straight onto Carruthers head at the back post, completely unmarked, and he headed into the top corner.

Hodges was taken off, much to the delight of the travelling fans and replaced by Simpson. Kev Townson came on for Connor, god knows why when he looked our most dangerous player. After this though we began to look more dangerous.

Townson had a header at the near post which was magnificently saved by Evans. And then he beat a couple of defenders and dragged a shot wide. He managed to have two shots in the space of a couple of minutes, the same that the rest of the team had managed all game.

Dale were looking dangerous and finally managed to get a goal back. Not surprisingly though it came from a set piece once again. Simpson drove a shot in at the near post, with most people expecting a cross. Could Dale muster a comeback?

Well the answer was simply no. Late pressure was there but it only led to shots being blocked. Flitcroft hit one over the bar from the edge of the area too. Scunthorpe in fact had a perfect chance to finish the game off, when their striker found himself one on one with Gilks, the youngster redeemed himself though and kept the ball out.

Final whistle brought boos to Spotland once again, and deservedly so. Another below par performance. What the hell is the matter with us at the moment. We all know for a fact that we are a hell of a lot better than we are showing. Interesting to see Scunthorpe celebrating like they had won the league though after the game though! We must really be thought of well these days. Shows how far we have come really.

Expectations are high, maybe I am being harsh on us. I can't help feel that the way we are playing is poor though. Excuses that we were beaten by the better team today can't be used. We were simply poor. Scunthorpe were there for the taking but we didn't take advantage.

Hard to tell where things went wrong really. Poor keeping and defending cost us goals, and at the other end we are simply not creating enough good chances. Time to face facts, performances like this are going to see us go nowhere this season. 15 games gone now, we are very lucky to even be in the top half. Call me negative all you want, the result speaks for itself.

Photo: Action Images

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