Stuart McCall hailed League Two leaders Rochdale as the best side City have faced and admitted: We could not handle them.

The Bantams were swept aside 3-0 at Valley Parade last night and were never in the game.

Two goals from Dale’s leading scorer Chris Dagnall and another by former City loan striker Chris O’Grady sealed the heaviest home defeat for two years.

Rochdale, who went top with their fourth straight away win, could have clocked up more goals as McCall’s men were blown away.

McCall said: “It was a poor night from us but you’ve got to give credit to Rochdale because they were excellent. They were far and away the best team we’ve played.

“They dominated most areas of the park and Dagnall and O’Grady are the best strike partnership we’ve come up against. We couldn’t cope with them.

“I thought they were outstanding but that doesn’t take away from our deficiencies. We weren’t good enough.

“There are a lot of disappointed players in our dressing room as you can imagine. Apart from Simon Ramsden, Easty (Simon Eastwood) and Scott Neilson when he came on, there are not many who can come away with any credit.”

Eastwood’s saves kept the score down as Dale seized control from the moment Dagnall pounced on a careless clearance from Steve Williams.

McCall said: “It’s a steep learning curve for a lot of our players. Look at Steve Williams, who’s only been in the league for a few months and will never have come up against a Dagnall or O’Grady. But we’ve got to learn and learn quick.

“We’d had a good week’s training and were all positive for the game after our result at Grimsby but it all stemmed from the front two.

“We didn’t put enough pressure on them and create anything on goal and Rochdale could have had more.”

After being crushed by the leaders, City now head to basement side Darlington on Saturday and McCall will demand that heads are back up at training tomorrow.

“It was a sore 90 minutes and a long 90 minutes but we’ve got to remember what we are aiming for,” he said.

“Rochdale on that form will look to go on strong and finish in the top three. Our ambition realistically is to try and get in the play-offs.

“We’ve got to make sure this result and performance doesn’t put a pin in the balloon of what we are working for.”