Grayson: That was tough

Simon Grayson could not hide his disappointment as Preston's winning run came to an end as Rochdale claimed a 3-0 win at Spotland.

The Lilywhites had won their previous eight games but came unstuck against a Dale side with just two wins on home turf before this clash. Goals from Jack O'Connell, Ian Henderson and Matt Done wrapped up the victory, while Conrad Logan preserved a clean sheet with a late penalty save from Joe Garner. "You're never going to win every game but you do want your players to win individual battles and try to come out on top. Nine or 10 of their players were better than ours," said Grayson. "It was a real tough game as they play with energy and purpose. But there were aspects of our game that we should have done better, the simple things. It's hugely disappointing but we can't have a go at the players because we've been on a great run. "We didn't deal with long balls and we didn't win the first ball, we let it bounce and were too easy with things. The goals were certainly stoppable. "It's probably the first time the back four looked unsure. There was indecision. We knew they'd play with the diamond and their forward players would go wide and I don't think our defenders understood that at times. The third goal came against the run of play as we were chasing it. "To sum the day up, you don't expect your leading scorer to miss a penalty and that's the first time we've not scored this year." O'Connell headed home Michael Rose's free kick to open the scoring in the 28th minute and Henderson side-footed Rhys Bennett's cross four minutes later. Done seized on a slip by goalkeeper Jamie Jones on the hour mark and slipped the third goal into an empty net. Logan denied Preston a consolation with his brilliant late save to keep out Garner's spot kick. Dale boss Keith Hill was delighted with his players for executing his game plan to perfection. "It was a good game and we paid a lot of respect to the opposition, especially with the form they had been in going into the game," he explained. "They are an excellent side but we came up with a game plan and I thought we executed it excellently. Every player was outstanding to a man and I couldn't fault any of themselves "Jack O'Connell did well to score the first goal, but he is more content with the clean sheet. "We defended magnificently and emptied our box really well after watching the DVD of Preston's win at Fleetwood when they came from two goals down to win and we made sure that we moved their strikers out of goalscoring situations. "The lads were superb and showed a lot of bravery in the performance to get that result and in the end I felt it was well deserved." Breaking news, transfer gossip, line ups and goal alerts from your football club - delivered direct to your mobile. Sign up for Sky Sports Alerts