Silly errors in the Dale defence cost Dale dear as they slipped up against Steve Parkin's Mansfield side. They were always up against it after conceding an excellent early goal.
Silly errors in the Dale defence cost Dale dear as they slipped up against Steve Parkin's Mansfield side. They were always up against it after conceding an excellent early goal. They battled back, grabbing an equaliser through Lydiate but defensive mistakes cost us dear.
Dale crashed to their third defeat on the trot, as they lost three one away at promotion hopefuls Mansfield Town. We suffered an early goal, then after a lot of effort saw Dale get back into the game, we completely gave the match away and got precisely what we deserved after some shocking defending.
The game saw Dale start with a side only changed with the return of Jason Lydiate who replaced the suspended Dave Bayliss. There was a fairly sizeable Dale following at a ground not renowned for its success for the boys in blue, and given past history at Field Mill, it was perhaps no surprise that Mansfield took the lead within the opening two minutes. A nice passing move by the home side saw L'helgouaich (?) curled a lovely shot round the outstretched Edwards into the back of the net. Many Dale fans had not yet entered the ground and we were already one down.
The rest of the half saw Dale battle in vain to get back into the match, but to no avail. Jason Peake came closest to scoring when he fired a shot towards the Mansfield goal. It looked like it was heading way over the bar, as had many previous efforts, but the ball fell wickedly at the last minute and keeper Bowling did well to tip it wide, when it was going in. All other Dale efforts in this half failed to test the Mansfield keeper, despite Dale having a large deal of possession.
The second half saw Dale start very brightly. Graham Lancashire was brought on to replace Michael Holt in a bid to get back into the match, and it almost paid immediate dividends. A shot was stopped by Bowling but the rebound fell nicely for Dale, but the second effort was cleared off the line. A minute or so later, Dale equalised. A corner came in from the right hand side, and was flicked on by Andy Morris straight on to Jason Lydiate who headed Dale home.
The next few minutes looked like Dale would go on and win the game. We certainly had the upper hand at this point, but we completely let it slip with some of the worst bit of defending seen this season. A corner came in and Ryder was stood on the near side of the six yard box. There was no Dale player anywhere near him despite his dangerous position. He scored what will probably be the easiest header in his career. As it went in, it was post-mortem time in the Dale defence as everyone looked for someone to blame. Peakey was probably nearest to the scorer, but Peake is not the player best equipped to deal with the aerial threat.
After that goal, Dale never really looked like getting back into the match, and it was almost inevitable that a third came not long after. It was quite a clever finish but it came as a result of the Dale defenders backing off the Mansfield scorer Clarke. They backed off and off and he eventually fired the ball into the back of the net.
The rest of the match was played out with the home side looking very safe indeed. Ian Bryson came on to little effect. Dale were destroyed by two lapses in concentration in the Dale defence. You may blame the manager, but ultimately the responsibility must lie with the defenders. The second goal was an absolute shocker and came about following the sort of error you see in Sunday league football. The question remains. Has this past week seen Dale's season over? Any hopes off the play offs are looking more and more distant.
Dale: Edwards, Bailey, Barlow, Lydiate, Monington, Farrell (Bryson), Carden, Stoker, Morris, Peake, Holt (Lancashire).