Rochdale manager Keith Hill was left apoplectic after seeing his Rochdale side reduced to nine-men in Tuesday’s shock 4-0 defeat at home to Scunthorpe United.
Skipper Olly Lancashire was sent off for two bookable offences and Jack O’Connell then received a straight red card for a challenge that led the linesman to award Scunthorpe a penalty after referee Tony Harrington had appeared to wave play on.
Unsurprisingly Hill was unimpressed with the officiating but he did praise his team who had dominated proceedings prior to the dismissals, despite finding themselves 1-0 down at half-time.
“Let’s be right some of our football in the first half was absolute beauty and I was happy with the performance but it’s all been taken away from us,” said Hill.
“If it had been taken away from us by the opposition, wow, hands up. But it hasn’t.
“I’ve got a list as long as my arm with respect to decisions he (the referee) should’ve made, didn’t make and could’ve made.
“So on a grumpy scale of one to ten, I’m at 21 or 22 because this isn’t the first time that a game’s been decided not even by the opposition but by external influences and decision making.”
Both O’ Connell and Lancashire have been key figures at the heart of the Rochdale defence this season and will now miss Saturday’s trip to York City leaving Hill short of options at the back.
In spite of this, the Rochdale boss has no desire to seek reinforcements.
“I don’t want to recruit players just for the sake of it, I’ve got an exceptionally good squad. There’s nothing wrong with where we are at, the points we’ve got and the way we are trying to play,” Hill added.
“We’ll just draw a line under that (defeat), I’m upset and I’m angry but I can’t change what has occurred.
“We’ll learn from it and we’ll get an opportunity to put it right on Saturday.”
Image courtesy of Rochdale AFC via YouTube , with thanks
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