Rochdale AFC Ladies Open Age team were beaten 1-0 by Langho Ladies despite a battling performance on Sunday.
The only goal in the game was enough to separate the two sides, despite an impressive performance against a physical and determined team.
Lucy Pilling hit the post from 25-yards with the opposing goalkeeper beaten, and Rebecca Leonard saw an effort cleared off the line, as Dale went mightily close to taking at least a point from the game.
Manager Mark Pilling said: “There were some outstanding performance but we have to get to grips with different styles of play.
“We can only look positively to what we want to achieve. We only won promotion last season so we are on course with our objectives for the season.
“We’re now starting to rebuild, looking forward to next season.”
The ladies’ next game sees them host Sale Ladies on Sunday 10th March – 2pm kick-off.