JOHN Hughes joked that he must have run over 10 black cats on his way to Dark Lane after being involved in one of most bizarre matches in his 30 years in the game.

Hughes lost his keeper in the warm-up, had to put a striker in goal and saw two players sent off in the opening 45 minutes.

Then there were the eight goals conceded and a string of strange decisions by the match officials.

But despite the heavy defeat, Hughes said he was proud the way his nine men battled until the end.

“Our chairman, Steve Hobson, joked that I must have run over 10 cats on the way to the ground,” said Hughes.

“I have never been involved in a game as bizarre as this one.

“It all began to go wrong even before we kicked off and after completely controlling the game, a string of bad decisions by the match officials cost us dearly.

“These things always seem to happen when you are bottom of the table but I have to say I am very proud of the way the lads battled right to the end.”

Rossendale lost keeper Tom Brocklehurst in the warm-up who was suffering from a migraine.

Centre forward Sam Heap was forced to go in goal but it didn’t seem to affect Dale who took the game to Trafford and had a great chance to open the scoring but Danny Ellis saw his seventh minute penalty saved before blasting the rebound over the bar.

But it all began to go against Dale in the 17th minute when Trafford striker Glyn Baker appeared to kick the ball out of the hands of Heap to open the scoring.

And it went from bad to worse when Tom Clarkson was sent off for disputing the goal before Barker made it 2-0 four minutes later.

Tom Smith pulled one back for Dale with a wonderful 30 yard strike but Trafford regained their two-goal advantage with a strike from Scott Metcalfe.

Dale were then left with an impossible task when Danny Ellis received his marching orders just before the break.

Brocklehurst recovered to take to the field in the second half but Trafford went further ahead in the 51st minute through Paul Ashton before goals from Greg Hall, Scott Barlow, Shelton Payne and Marvin McDonald sealed the win.