Wigan Athletic 'never recovered' from early setback

But from the moment Kwadwo Baah smashed home an unstoppable opening goal, which flew past Jamie Jones like a missile, there was only going to be one winner.

Matty Lund doubled the Rochdale lead before the break, and second-half goals from Stephen Dooley and Tom Newby (2, including one penalty) underlined the gulf between the two sides.

And after back-to-back wins over high-flying Sunderland and Accrington suggested a corner had been turned, Richardson was the first to acknowledge a tough night at the office.

"On the back of a good month when most things have gone our way, tonight we never really recovered after the first goal went in," he said.

"We managed to get to half-time, but conceding so early in the second half, it was always going to be an uphill struggle for us.

"I thought Rochdale were fantastic to be fair. They sat in, waited for our mistakes, and they exploited them, so fair play.

"There's enough negativity around the club in general at the moment.

"This is a minor bump in the road of late, and we'll live to fight another day - which is what we'll do."

Latics were unchanged for the first time all season, but the lack of depth in the squad was painfully apparent with Richardson unable to stem the bleeding.

"We've been running with a very young squad for some time now and, while you're learning on the job, you are going to get those nights," he added.

"Sadly for us, tonight was one of those, but it's my job now to pick them up and get them ready to go again on Saturday.

"In terms of are we lacking a bit of depth and quality? Possibly.

"But in terms of effort and endeavour, they could not be giving me any more.

"They were still battling right the way to the end, and fair credit to them for that."

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