Rochdale AFC

“We’ve got to look at our performance and we didn’t start on the front foot,” said Hill.

“We conceded ground and we didn’t play up against the opposition. That’s what disappoints me – the application to winning a game. I don’t think we can concede ground to Shrewsbury like we did in the first 20 minutes or so.

"I thought we rode our luck enough to get to half time at 1-0, but again, it seems to be a regular occurrence where there’s a little bit of flattery to deceive. I was really pleased with the last four performances coming into this game and there was plenty of confidence, but you’ve got to remember that you’ve got to turn up and do the basics.

“If you do the basics correctly and get beat then you won’t be far from getting positive results, but today I don’t feel as though we’ve been anywhere near the way that we’ve started games over the last four games.”

Rochdale were much improved in the second half, but after taking the 2-0 lead into the break, Shrewsbury Town were happy to sit back during the second period, frustrating Dale.

“If you look at the first half, it could have been 4-2 to them because they had other opportunities and we had two glorious opportunities," said Hill.

"But I don’t think we made enough of our possession or getting our crosses in, in the second half. We squandered corner after corner at times, so I can understand the way the opposition played.

"But again, I don’t take encouragement from the second half because arguably the game is dead - they closed the game quite well. I saw signs of encouragement from passages of play but we should be doing that in the first half."