JOE Pritchard took no consolation from his stunning strike given it came in defeat for Stanley at Rochdale.

Pritchard scored a superb 25-yard effort to haul Stanley back in to the game at Spotland but it wasn’t enough as they fell to a 2-1 defaet.

It was a first senior goal for the 23-year-old, who joined from Bolton in the summer, in what was his 11th Stanley outing.

But despite dominating the game, the Reds saw a five-match unbeaten run come to an end, as Ian Henderson struck twice either side of half-time to give Dale the points.

“It’s horrible when you’re in a situation like this,” Pritchard said reflecting on his wonder goal.

“If the team doesn’t win, it can never be a good day.

“It was a great strike, my first goal, and it’s unbelievable for a shot like that to go in.

“But if you don’t win the game, you don’t get anything out of it.”

Stanley are just two points outside the relegation spots, with two wins from their 12 matches, but Pritchard feels performances are deserving of far more.

They created much the better chances against Rochdale, but came away with nothing ahead of Sunday’s visit of high-flying Ipswich Town.

“I think we’ve been playing well all season and think we’ve been unfortunate with a lot of results, getting draws and dropping points everywhere when really we should be picking up points,” said Pritchard, who operated in an unfamiliar wing-back role as Stanley switched to a back three.

“Games like Rochdale, we should be picking up points, but we came away with nothing.

“If you don’t put your chances away then you don’t win games of football.

“We had way more chances than they did and the fact we haven’t put them away is really disappointment.”

John Coleman opted for a chance in formation given he was without Callum Johnson and Sean McConville.

The Reds settled in to the system well, and Pritchard feels the rub of the green are going against Stanley, with the team unable to turn positive performances in to points.

He added: “I’ve always hoped that at some point in the season we’ll start picking up points, whether we’re playing in a different system or not, we have a group of unbelievable players, a great manager, and the way he puts us together, however he does it, it works.

“First half I thought we played well with the three at the back that we hadn’t played this year, it’s just a case of the luck coming our way.

“As soon as we start picking up points that will start coming.”

Despite sitting 20th in the table, the midfielder has confidence in the group of players at the club, and believes things will start to turn in their favour soon.

“We know we’re a good team, we know we’re good players,” he said.

“We have players who score goals, it’s just getting across the line and winning a game.”

The Rochdale game followed a Leasing.com Trophy game at Oldham where a much-changed side ran out 3-0 winners against the League Two side.

Pritchard, making his sixth start and 11th appearance for the club against Dale, says that performance at Boundary Park further highlighted the strength in depth at the club.

“You saw it in the game the other week the performance of the lads who haven’t played a lot, they came in and absolutely battered Oldham in my opinion. We were much the better team.

“If they keep working hard then they will get their chance.”