Dale were 2-0 down at the break and, despite rallying in the second-half, Bryant Bilongo’s sending off and a late third meant Watson’s side left empty-handed.
“It’s a really tough day,” commented the Dale gaffer.
“We spoke about what this league was going to offer us, and we showed that we’ve got a lot of learning and growth to get to where we want to be, and we need to do that really quickly.
“We conceded from three set pieces, two on the second phase as well, so we need to address that on Monday.
“I thought in the second half we improved and played with more bravery. We played in areas that we spoke about during the week that we thought would hurt them.
“I thought we gained more momentum, but I don’t want to paper over any cracks – we weren’t good enough. It’s not an acceptable performance, and it’s one that won’t happen again.
“What’s frustrating is that it’s nothing we didn’t expect. We knew what was going to come, and we need to work out why we weren’t able to deal with it. We have to understand why we allowed this game to happen like it did.”
Watch the full interview with Watson via our YouTube channel below.
