A LACK of killer instinct is Steve Parkin's main worry after seeing his side waste a glut of chances in Saturday's defeat by struggling Notts County.

Dale have only found the net nine times in 10 league matches, but could have sent their tally well into double figures against the Magpies.

They didn't, however, and were punished by some clinical finishing from County striker Glynn Hurst, who notched up a hat-trick which included two text-book strikes.

"If you don't put the ball in the net teams do eventually get the odd chance," said Parkin. "The first two goals came from personal errors, which is disappointing, and everyone's guilty of not taking enough care to put the ball in the net.

"We had fantastic opportunities. We made their keeper work very hard at times, but we gave him the opportunity to make saves when he shouldn't have.

"Gary Jones headed one over the bar from a yard, Griffiths hit the cross bar, and Holt should certainly have been on the score sheet.

"I don't know what the stats were, regarding possession and shots on target, but I'd be surprised if Notts County had most of them," he added.

Parkin admitted the result was not good enough, but refused to accept the performance merited such a one-sided scoreline and drew parallels with the derby defeat by Bury last month.

"The players are very down and the fans had a pop at them for losing 3-0 at home, but it was a completely different game to the Bury match," he said.

"I had a go at the players after that because I thought there was a lack of desire and lack of commitment. Today I don't think there was.

"Contrary to what the crowd might think, we wanted to win and played the right football."

Dale's poor home record has hampered any progress up the table on the back of decent wins at Grimsby and Wycombe. And the manager is keen to put this right.

"It took us 20 minutes to get into Notts County's ribs and at home that's something we've got to improve on. We've got to up the tempo because if we'd done that, and got the goal, there would only have been one winner.

"We've got to keep going, keep playing and keep believing, and make sure we defend better in one box and are more ruthless in the other."

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