After a crazy last three games that have seen goals galore, Dale were beaten away at Doncaster 1-0 in a pretty dire game of football.

Trying to predict this one before hand was tough. I was thinking 4-2 defeat. Plenty of goals but an example of how our defence was so weak. A point would have been a dream before the game with Doncaster chasing promotion but who knows with our current results.

God only knows how we were going to line up as well. We had McNulty suspended (Still pissed off with him), O’Connell out injured, McShane out injured (shock) and no recognised left back in yet. The team came with what looked to be Gavin Bazunu in net, Ryan McLaughlin at right back, Haydon Roberts at centre back with Aaron Morley and Jimmy Keohane at left. The lack of options mean we had to endure Stephen Dooley again in the line-up. He would be wide one side with Kwadwo Baah on the opposite and Matty Lund and Ollie Rathbone in the middle. Jake Beesley and Stephen Humphrys up front. The bench consisted of Jay Lynch, Joe Dunne, Alex Newby, Fabio Tavares, Harrison Hopper, Ethan Brierley, Matt Done.

It wasn’t as frantic as previous games to start with but the recent games are a hard act to follow and it was 10 minutes before we saw any goalmouth action, but Dale were the more attacking side in the opening exchanges. Kwadwo Baah and Stephen Dooley both having shots blocked in the box.

Dale continued to push forward with Ollie Rathbone driving forward and hitting an effort just wide with his left foot in a similar way to the goal he scored at the Keepmoat last season.

Stephen Humphrys broke with the ball and threaded in Stephen Dooley over on the right-hand side and he put in a good ball that ended up with Baah. Baah cut inside and shot but it was blocked and rebounded to Lund who smashed it narrowly wide.

Doncaster did try and get forward a little bit and winger Simoes cut in from the left and shot but his shot was deflected and easy for Bazunu.

That was followed by Donny forward Richards going close with a shot that went narrowly wide.

But as well as Dale had done and as little Doncaster had threatened, it was inevitably the home side that took the lead. A good ball into the box was not dealt with well enough by Keohane and Baah and it was Baah’s man who got on the end of the nod down and nudged it to Taylor who scored and made it 1-0.

Do not think we deserved that to be fair.

Humphrys had a shot blocked which ended up a simple save for the keeper as Dale chased the equaliser which was not forthcoming.

Half time came and Dale were a bit unlucky to be losing the game. Doncaster’s first effort on goal had resulted in a goal and again, it was completely unavoidable.

The second half started and within five minutes, Dale were dealt a blow when Jake Beesley went down. I still now don’t know why he went down but he did and was seemingly in a considerable amount of pain, punching the ground in frustration. He was forced off and on came Alex Newby.

Chances were very few and far between for either side and the closest Dale came was an Aaron Morley cross being met by Humphrys but his header flew over the bar when he should probably have done better.

Baah was struggling to create any space, probably due to the fact that every time he got the ball, he had three men around him. It didn’t stop him having a go but some of the decisions he made were probably the wrong ones. He also found himself in the referee’s book after a bit of afters when Dale were awarded a free kick for a foul on Rathbone.

The one chance Baah did get to break, he managed to take it past two who were marking him and get into the area, but his shot was blocked and a Doncaster defender managed to fall onto the ball without handling it before it was cleared away.

That ended up being the last chance of the game and despite the 6 minutes stoppage time, Dale couldn’t break through the solid Doncaster defence.

It was effectively like what we’ve seen in home games where the opposition don’t seem to offer a lot up front but are solid at the back and we struggle to break them down.

A frustrating evening for Dale who go to Gillingham next on Saturday hoping to bring back three much needed points.

PLAYER RATINGS:

Gavin Bazunu - 6 (Very little to do other than pick the ball out of the net)

Ryan McLaughlin - 6 (Did alright and did try to get forward as much as possible)

Jimmy Keohane- 5 (Struggled tonight I thought but still prefer him at left back to right back but feel we need better options)

AARON MORLEY - 7 (Did well as a makeshift centre half and probably deserves MOTM)

Haydon Roberts - 7 (Better from Roberts tonight and did well as the leading centre half)

Kwadwo Baah - 5 (Hard to play how he would want when marked by three every time. Struggled)

Stephen Dooley — 7 (Did well first half and a bit quieter second half but much better)
Matt Lund - 6 (Did OK, went close in the first half)

Ollie Rathbone - 6 (Hard working and tried to break when possible but too many passes were poor)

Jake Beesley - 6 (Did ok until he had to go off injured)

Stephen Humphrys - 6 (Not his night tonight, still had a couple of chances but didn’t seem as explosive as recent games, carrying a knock maybe?)

Subs:

Alex Newby - 6 (Tried to get forward but lost the ball a couple of times in good areas)

Photo: Action Images

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