JOHN Coleman lambasted Accrington Stanley's poor defence as they slumped to a 4-1 League Two defeat at Rochdale yesterday. The Reds took the lead at Spotland through Shaun Whalley's superb individual goal on 33 minutes. But it all fell apart once hat-trick striker Adam Le Fondre equalised with a contested penalty on the stroke of half-time. Le Fondre scored twice more after the break, and Dale captain Gary Jones also hit the score sheet.
But the Reds contributed to their own downfall, much to Coleman's anger.



"I'm annoyed and frustrated," said the Stanley boss.
"We give people specific jobs and they don't do them, and we capitulate. It's not good enough. In the second-half, Rochdale came out with their tails up and we gave them possession outside our box. It's catastrophic, and people are out of position for the goal"
"Once they went 2-1 up, we didn't get out of second gear and they ran out worthy winners in the end."
Stanley were seemingly in control until referee Paul Taylor awarded Dale a penalty after Jay Harris had been deemed to have tripped Jones.
"I cannot comment on the penalty, but Jay thought he got some of the ball and that it was outside the box," added Coleman." But that's irrelevant. We are not going to blame the referee."
"We've got to get our own house in order. It's not the referee's fault that we cannot defend."