Dale 3 Notts County 0- the opposition view

Speaking to The Nottingham Evening Post Notts County manager Ian McParland blasted his side's defending for Dale's first goal in injury-time at the end of the first half at Spotland on Tuesday evening. He also felt aggrieved the Magpies were not awarded a penalty for handball against Nathan Stanton in the second half before Chris Dagnall doubled the home side's lead.

"We conceded a disgraceful goal," he added. "There was no danger whatsoever and the ball should have been cleared.We had two good chances in the first half even though they put us under a bit of pressure and if we had gone in at 0-0 I would have been delighted."

"I thought a decision went against us in the second half. It looked like a handball in the penalty area.The lad put his arm up to stop it and it could have changed the game if we had been given it.Once we conceded the second goal it was an uphill task."

Defender John Thompson also speaking to The Post  admitted that Notts County had let their standards drop.He felt conceding in added time at the end of the first half was the turning point in the game.

Thompson said: "We just didn't perform to the high standard we have in the other games this year.I'm not making excuses but I don't know whether it is the amount of games we have played. I just felt from the first minute the lads were a bit sluggish.It wasn't a good enough performance but the turning point was the goal just before half-time.If we had gone in 0-0 I think we would have been in with a great chance of getting a positive result.We had a few efforts on goal and we could have scored ourselves so it was a night of frustration for us."