THE better team won was the honest assessment of Barrow AFC boss Paul Cox after his side’s FA Cup dream ended at the hands of Rochdale.

Cox had hoped to be watching tonight’s fourth-round draw with a vested interest, but a 2-0 defeat in the afternoon fog at Holker Street on Saturday saw his side exit the competition.

Two Ian Henderson goals – one in either half, the first heading in from a corner and the second slotting home after being played through into space in the Barrow area – were all it took for the League One high-fliers to advance.

As such, the wait for the Bluebirds to reach the last 32 of the FA Cup for the first time goes on. Twelve times they have reached the third round and lost – with Cox disappointed to see the run over, but admitting Dale fully merited their place in the hat.

“We wanted it to go on, I’m not going to lie,” said Cox after his side lost back-to-back games for the first time this season following the 4-1 National League defeat to Gateshead on New Year’s Eve. “We wanted the razzmatazz, we wanted to break records and go into the history books, but it wasn’t to be.

“We worked extremely hard, but probably Rochdale’s quality in the final third was the difference.

“You saw that little bit of Football League experience and knowledge, that cool, calm and collectedness of one or two players just shines and stands out. The lad I have managed before, Calvin Andrew, I thought he had a superb game, headed every ball.

“Rochdale aren’t just a good team. I thought their physicality and the way they worked extremely hard showed why they are up there in League One.

“We never affected Rochdale in the final third as we can. That’s disappointing for us, but you have to give Rochdale an incredible amount of credit. I think they’re a very good side, they’re on a great run themselves, riding high in League One, and you could see why.

“But I always look at our own camp, and I just don’t think that we did enough in that final third to really affect the game in a positive way.

“What summed the game up was right at the end, when we have miscued right in front of the goal.

“The boys have worked hard and we’ve tried to get ourselves back into it. We even threw Moussa (Diarra) on up top, we tried to affect the game, but today just wasn’t meant to be.

“I’m looking for a response now. We’ve got a massive second half of the season to come, and even though we lost a game – and I would never want to enjoy losing – there has to be a few positives to come out of it.

“We had a full house, the boys have worked extremely hard, but now we need to dust ourselves down, move on, and refocus on the league.”

He added: “It’s easy when you’ve lost a game sometimes to be over-critical. The first goal was a killer – we found ourselves then chasing the game, leaving ourselves very open and susceptible to the counter-attack. The second goal was great counter-attack play.

“We’ve done okay. There were moments which could have turned the game – the two chances we had at 1-0 down, which I thought we should have done better with – but overall, I thought Rochdale deserved to win the game.

“It has been a great journey. We’ve enjoyed it, but now we have to forget about it and refocus on what are going to be some very important league games.

“We’ve got to the third round, on the verge of making history. Now it’s over – it’s chip paper. Now I want to see how we react, with what mindset we approach the second half of the season.”