Jim Bentley was left frustrated after Dale’s 1-0 defeat at Bristol Rovers on Saturday.
Scott Sinclair’s second-half goal proved to be the difference between the sides, after Dale were made to rue missed opportunities.
“It’s as frustrated as I’ve been so far,” said Bentley.
“It’s no good blaming the goal that we conceded for why we lost the game. We had numerous opportunities at the other end.
“The gameplan went exactly as we thought. We countered from mid-third to final third and when we did get it right, we created enough opportunities to win two games, never mind one.
“I pride myself, as a defender, on coming alive at set plays and being robust. I feel like I’m saying the same thing as I did last week.
“We can’t go away and say well done we’ve played well – I’m not having that. We’ve lost 1-0 again, like we lost 1-0 last week, and we were the better side again.
“It’s another poor goal [to concede]. There was no willingness to put your head on it, no desire to clear your lines.
“We spoke yesterday about Bristol Rovers being bright with their set plays. They play a lot short – we discussed which players would go out to them. We show them things, we go out on the grass and practice it, and then you come to the big event, in a game that we’re on top of, and concede a goal like that.
“Both boxes are the most important thing and scoring is the hardest thing to do. They’ve done it, we haven’t, and we go out of the cup.”
Watch the full post-match interview with Bentley below via our YouTube channel.