Stuart McCall scanned the results sheet and allowed himself a wry smile.
"At least I'm not Rafa Benitez, I suppose," he muttered before dissecting another familiar tale of last-gasp heartbreak.
They say there is always someone worse off than yourself and McCall would not want to swap shoes with the dead man walking at Anfield.
But I'm sure he'd fancy managing a few of the Rochdale players who had just extinguished the last flickering vestige of play-off hope with one of those now customary last-minute winners.
Rochdale fans don't get much to celebrate. In 100 years of trying, they have been promoted only once.
Though, the more positive could argue that Dale have also suffered the bitter taste of relegation only once as well.
But something is stirring in their centenary season. Thirty five years after dropping back into the basement division, there is real belief that Rochdale could be going "back" up.
That is engendered in the all-action beavering of David Perkins in the midfield engine room and the strong no-nonsense leadership of Gary Jones alongside him.
Jones, who has just clocked up 300 games for Dale, is the type that McCall would like to have on board. He's a born leader of men; setting the example with his phenomenal work rate and demanding that team-mates follow.
A player after McCall's heart.
The current City team don't possess that model - something the boss is desperate to change during the summer reshuffle.
Valley Parade is bracing itself for another frantic off-season. With all bar a couple in the dressing room out of contract at the end of the season, expect some blood-letting.
Those who do not make the cut will have little cause for complaint. McCall knows his first year back at his spiritual home has been one of frustrating under-achievement - borne out by the fact their season effectively came to a close in mid-February.
Not going up, bar a crazy run of results; not going down, barring the same.
With a third of the campaign still to go, it's all about personal and professional pride.
City need results to pick up to persuade those season-ticket holders who have backed them so magnificently this time to dip into their pockets again. The players, themselves, have to demonstrate to McCall that they possess the ability - and the hunger - to be worth persevering with again.
McCall had no complaints with the attitude on display on Saturday. After the second half no-show against Bury, City were in the mood to put it right.
But they were up against better-drilled and dangerous opponents. In a division that boasts more away wins than homes, Rochdale are the master exponents of success on their travels.
They have knocked up four at Chesterfield and Rotherham with their deadly counter-attacks - and for a time looked capable of doing the same to City.
It did not help that they were gifted the lead by an own goal that will be a contender for one of those Christmas novelty DVDs.
The through ball from Perkins was rolling through to Scott Loach when Matt Clarke, who claims he didn't hear the keeper's call, tried to intervene. His stretching deflection left Loach hopelessly wrong-footed and the ball rolled gently into the empty net.
City, who had looked bright up to that point, were rocking for a while. The defence, in particular, suffered one or two "Bury moments" as Dale's bruising front pair Rene Howe and Lee Thorpe caused havoc.
With Perkins at the forefront of the quick breaks from midfield, City were briefly in danger of going under and the crowd was edgy. The hosts were playing some good stuff themselves going forward but the ball just wasn't dropping in the right areas.
They needed a lift - and couldn't have asked for a better one than Peter Thorne's equaliser on the stroke of half-time.
Eddie Johnson was coming more into the game and reeled off a snapshot that deflected perfectly into Thorne's path. Just onside, he greedily seized the invitation to extend a purple patch of seven goals from nine games since Christmas.
Dale viewed the scoreboard with disbelief as they trudged off. Boss Keith Hill thought that first half was the best 45 minutes of their season and said: "We should have been out of sight."
Loach, so solid in his first three games, had looked uncharacteristically jittery; the own goal maybe playing on his mind.
But he began the second half with a critical save from Howe who had got across Clarke at the near post.
Now it was City asking the questions, though one wild effort from Omar Daley was so high and ugly that it prompted the elderly gent in front of the press box to aim his walking stick machine-gun style at the Jamaican!
Willy Topp was having his best game since his full debut and stayed on for the longest yet, lasting 74 minutes before his number came up. Within seconds of his departure, strike partner Thorne was conjuring something out of nothing with an explosive 25-yard volley that brushed the post with keeper James Spencer motionless.
The game was wide open and Ben Muirhead would have marked his return to his old club with a goal but for a crucial close-range block by Paul Heckingbottom.
Joe Colbeck, on for Daley, then drifted on to the left to collect Heckingbottom's pass and cut in for a shot which was well held by Spencer.
Could City, so often the victim of late muggings, pull off one of their own?
No. The clock had ticked into the third of the four minutes added on by referee Carl Boyeson when Rochdale launched one last assault.
City failed to clear the danger as the ball popped out to substitute Adam Le Fondre, lurking outside the penalty area. Le Fondre, dropped for the game, had a point to prove and did so emphatically with a finish every bit as unerring as Andy Bishop's the week before.
The shot flew past Loach into the identical spot the Bury frontman had found. Same ending, same result; more of the same disappointment.
TELEGRAPH & ARGUS
| BRADFORD CITY | ROCHDALE |
| 34 Scott Loach | 1 James Spencer |
| 3 Paul Heckingbottom | 2 Simon Ramsden |
| 5 David Wetherall | 3 Thomas Kennedy |
| 7 Omar Daley | 23 Rory McArdle |
| 8 Eddie Johnson | 31 Marcus Holness |
| 10 Peter Thorne | 11 Adam Rundle |
| 12 Matthew Clarke | 16 David Perkins |
| 22 Kyle Nix | 8 Gary Jones |
| 23 Willy Topp | 7 Ben Muirhead |
| 32 Lee Bullock | 19 Lee Thorpe |
| 33 Ben Starosta | 24 Rene Howe |
| SUBSTITUTES | SUBSTITUTES |
| 9 Barry Conlon for 23 (74) | 21 Sam Russell |
| 15 Joe Colbeck for 7 (69) | 5 John Doolan |
| 18 Tom Penford | 17 Chris Basham |
| 35 Thomas Moncur | 10 Adam Le Fondre for 19 (76) |
| 36 David Brown for 10 (86) | 30 Will Buckley for 7 (81) |
| MATCH OFFICIALS: | |
| Referee: | C Boyeson |
| Assistant Referee: | N Smith |
| Assistant Referee: | P C Wright |
| 4th Official: | J R Tyas |
| GOALSCORERS: | |
| BRADFORD CITY | ROCHDALE |
| Thorne (45) | Clarke og (12) |
| Le Fondre (90) | |
| . |
| DISCIPLINARY: | |
| BRADFORD CITY | ROCHDALE |
| Thorpe (72) | |
| . |
