Ten man Dale were beaten 3-0 by Oxford United at the Kassam Stadium on Saturday.
The hosts scored twice in seven first-half minutes through Josh Ruffels and Tariqe Fosu, before Aaron Wilbraham was sent off shortly before the break, leaving Dale with ten.
Brian Barry-Murphy’s side were resolute in the second-half, but Oxford sealed the win through Sam Long’s strike four minutes from time.
There was one change from Tuesday’s side that started in the win against MK Dons, as Aaron Wilbraham came in for Ian Henderson, who started on the bench after being unable to train since that win.
Matty Done and Eoghan O’Connell both fired efforts over for Dale in the opening stages, but the it was the hosts who broke the deadlock on the 20-minute mark.
A inswinging corner was headed back into the mix by John Mousinho, allowing Ruffels to stab home beyond Jay Lynch from close range.
Fosu tested Lynch with a free-kick from range, with the Dale stopper spilling the intial effort but collecting the loose ball at the feet of an onrushing forward.
The hosts doubled their lead in the 27th minute. A cross from the right was controlled and smashed against the crossbar by Cameron Brannagan, with Fosu cushioning a volley into the far corner from the rebound.
James Henry couldn’t make a solid connection on a cross from Chris Cadden when in on goal, before Lynch made a fine one-handed save to deny Jamie Mackie.
Dale were reduced to ten five minutes before the break, when Wilbraham’s challenge on Fosu was deemed dangerous play by referee Nicholas Kinseley, who showed the forward a straight red card.
Lynch saved a header from Mackie comfortably on the stroke of half-time, before Mark Sykes fired over from inside the area after the break.
Henderson was introduced shortly after half-time for Aaron Morley, before Fabio Tavares also came on in place of Matty Done.
Substitute Shandon Baptiste and Henry both fired efforts off target for the hosts, before the former’s shot which was turned goalwards by an Oxford man was superbly saved by Lynch on the line.
Dale had the ball in the back of the net when Henderson chested down and fired home, but he was judged to be offside from Eoghan O’Connell’s diagonal ball.
The hosts sealed the victory with a third goal four minutes from time, when Long fired into an empty net after Lynch had done well to save Henry’s fierce shot.