| Excuses? Not this time. Shrewsbury were full value for their win, and they could have scored more. We were dreadful and played like a team that had never played together before.
Before today, Dale had one of the best defences in the country. The defence picks itself. It's four at the back, with the two in middle any two from Bayliss, Moningtion and Hill. Not today. Today, Keith Hill after being man of the match against York on Tuesday, was dropped to the bench in place of Simon Coleman. Coleman played for the reserves in midweek who conceded five. Today, he played for the first team who let in seven against a team who had only scored eight on their travels all season.
We were woeful. Absolutely dire. The defence was ripped apart time and time again, and to be honest, we made it easy for them. We had a switch in tactics which saw three centre halves in Monington, Coleman and Bayliss, with Evans and Todd playing as wing backs. Gary Jones and Dave Flitcroft were left to do everything in midfield on their own, with Kyle, Ellis and the returning Lancashire up front. The intention was to make us more attacking. Well we created more chances than we did in both the Torquay and York games, but what's the point when you're going to gift the opposition so many chances? It's not even as if Shrewsbury only had seven chances in the match. On another day, they could have had double figures.
It started bad enough. We were one down within the first minute or so, when teenage striker Luke Rodgers broke clear of the stationary Dale defence before producing a stunning finish to give the Shrews an early lead when a lot of Dale fans had still not made it into the ground.
But fair play to Dale and the fans. There was not catcalls from the stands. The fans got behind the team again, and the players still seemed confident enough to get something out of the game, and Graham Lancashire, making his first start of the season, almost scored within the opening ten minutes when his curled shot just went wide. However, he didn't have to wait too long to get his first goal of the season. On eleven minutes, a Kevin Kyle overhead kick was headed in by Lancashire to give Dale what was at the time a deserved equaliser.
This was just what we were after. Our first goal in 413 minutes was just what we wanted. A Lancashire goal had given the side the missing bit of confidence, and I'm sure every Dale fan inside Spotland felt that there was a goalfest ahead in the rest of the game. They were right.
Within two minutes of the equaliser, we were trailing again. Shrewsbury got a corner which was curled into the six yard box. With no Shrewsbury players anywhere near him, Kevin Kyle tried a fancy clearance with the back of his heel. It went straight in to send the 250 Shrewsbury fans into mass celebration. It was a comical goal, and not the best way for Kevin Kyle to grab his first goal in Dale colours.
The rest of the first half was fairly even but very open. Dale had plenty of chances and it was only down to the form of Paul Edwards who at times kept the Shrews in it. The return of Graham Lancashire was looking very timely, but it was never one way traffic. At the other end, Rodgers was looking very dangerous, with the Dale defence continually all over the place.
Second half came, and it was a shambles. Within a minute or so of the second half kick off, we were three one down. You couldn't believe it. Another corner. The ball comes over to their centre half Matt Redmile who looks like a fatter version of Gary Brabin. Somehow, he went unnoticed by the Dale players despite his size, and he had enough time to chest the ball down before firing home.
If that wasn't bad enough, things got very, very worse. Striker Luke Rodgers who had already been booked for a tussle with Bayliss in the opening minute of the second half, got involved again, and dragged Wayne Evans down before appearing to catch him in the face. The blow was enough to see Evans carried off on a stretcher.
That brought Hadland on, but from here on in, it was dreadful. With no Evans, Bayliss pushed more to the right hand side, but this left Lee Todd covering the whole of the left hand side on his own, both defence and midfield, and it was no surprise that they took advantage of it.
Shrewsbury scored more goals as the Dale defence appeared about as often as Richey Manic, and the Shrewbury strikers often had the whole of the half to themselves. As they made is six, striker Luke Rodgers took his shirt off in celebration of his hat trick and was given a second yellow card for it. It was a shocking decision, but in all honesty, Rodgers could have long gone.
They made it seven in the final minute from a penalty converted by Steve Jagielka, but very few Dale fans would have seen it as the ground deserted at around 4:25pm.
The final whistle saw scenes of jubilation from the Shrewsbury players and supporters, and fair play to them, they were full value for their win. As the Dale players trooped off with an empty stadium around them, Neil Edwards just sat on his own inside the six yard box, in a scene reminiscent of the Graham Barrow days.
Today, was very poor, and the effect the last three results will have on Tuesday's crowd doesn't bear thinking about. It was a huge mistake playing Coleman, which had a huge effect on the outcome, but it wasn't solely down to him. The game was full of poor performances, and the general consensus will be that Dale are blowing it again just as they always supposedly do. On this performance, it will be very hard to argue with them.
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