Rochdale 1, Albion 0

MICKY Adams likened Albion's season to a game of snakes and ladders after a

poisonous setback.

There will be many more ups and downs before the final throw of the dice in May.

But the circumstances in which the Seagulls slid down this particular serpent were deeply disappointing.

An unchanged team for the third match running arrived at Spotland full of confidence following consecutive victories and seven goals against Rotherham and Exeter.

They did not, however, perform like a side on a bit of a roll.

Endeavour and commitment to the cause was certainly evident. The players ran, they competed, they tried.

What they lacked was a flash of inspiration or a touch of venom to haul themselves back into a contest of few chances after falling behind early on.

Adams justifiably argued that Mark Walton had a quiet afternoon in Albion's goal. So too though did his vertically challenged counterpart Neil Edwards.

Adams blamed the goal which decided a hard-fought game on defensive confusion and more specifically a "bad call".

Keith Hill's flicked header put Graham Lancashire in behind the rearguard to finish with some aplomb from ten yards.

Lancashire's fourth of the season rewarded the faith shown in him by Rochdale manager Steve Parkin.

Temptation

His goal in the previous home game against Shrewsbury was his first since August. Yet Parkin resisted the temptation to bring back record signing Clive Platt, whose late double snatched that freakish 4-3 victory at Withdean last month.

Platt, fit enough to be on the bench after injury and illness, only replaced Lancashire in the closing stages.

The match-winning strike climaxed early enterprise from the hosts. A minute before it Walton had been at full stretch to turn Gary Jones' low drive at the end of a neat four-man move for a corner.

The attacking fluency associated with Albion's mini-revival over Christmas and the New Year was missing, particularly throughout the first half.

Lorenzo Pinamonte's firm header from a Paul Watson header just before the break, which Edwards held moving to his left, offered encouragement.

Unfortunately it was to be the big Italian's last meaningful contribution.

He was forced off by a hamstring injury 12 minutes into the second half, prompting a simultaneous exit by Ron Noades.

The Brentford boss confirmed as he left that he had sidestepped his club's defeat at Chesterfield to look at Pinamonte.

The loan forward's premature departure allowed Rod Thomas a rare opportunity. With three front men on the bench there was no mistaking Adams' desire to keep Albion's run going, and he also brought on teenage striker Scott Ramsay for central defender Darren Carr.

Paul Watson, whose set pieces were not delivered to their usual high standard, went close with one free-kick. Gary Hart fired into the side netting from an acute angle and Ramsay snatched at a late shooting chance, which flew wide.

Ironically it was former Seagull Jason Peake who came closest, Edwards' alertness preventing the talented midfielder from nodding another Watson free-kick into his own net.

Adams said: "Overall their goalkeeper was busier than mine. Funnily enough, I thought we played better than when we scored four goals against Exeter.

"We just needed a bit of luck in front of goal towards the end. Watson was inches away with a free-kick and Ramsay was inches away as well.

"Lorenzo showed enough in the first half to suggest he would have been a threat in the second half.

"Now we have got to get back on the rails as soon as we can. We are slightly inconsistent at the moment, but I still feel there is plenty to play for."

Indeed there is, not least with two avenues to Wembley via the play-offs or in the Auto Windscreens Shield.

That looks a little fanciful at the moment and Albion must rediscover momentum quickly to stop history repeating itself.

They were better placed early into the New Year last season when their play-off challenge started to fizzle out. More ladders please and less of those snakes!

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.