Halifax had all the possession and a bagful of scoring opportunities but ended up losing 2-1 to the Lancashire outfit.

"We hit the bar, the post twice, had two clear penalties and their keeper made three fantastic saves," said Vince.

"We broke them down but for one reason or another we just couldn't score bar the header at the end.

"We had 10 good chances and didn't take them and there must have been at least 20 chances in total to score a goal.

"If we had taken half the chances we created we would have won by five or six."

Rossendale keeper Ben Proctor was in particularly inspired form with one stop, to deny Junior Brown from a free kick, catching Vince's eye.

"If you asked him to do it again he wouldn't get anywhere near it," said Vince "He also saved point blank from Ashley Stott.

"He was probably the difference between the sides. If he'd have had an off day we would have won comfortably."

Saturday's game went ahead after a couple of pitch inspections, one in the morning a second 75 minutes before kick off.

The surface was tricky but Vince was more concerned by the referee's performance than the pitch.

"The pitch didn't stop us passing the ball, it didn't stop them scoring two goals and us one," he said.

"I have no grumbles with the pitch but I was disappointed with the standard of refereeing.

"The referee was rubbish. I am not blaming the referee for the defeat, I am saying he influenced it."

Saturday's defeat took Town's points tally to just one from the last nine on offer, but Vince is not worried.

"It is not a concern one iota," he said, "The season was not going to be won on Saturday.

"We have lost five in the league going into Christmas. If you are going to be there or thereabouts you can lose eight or nine games in the year.

"Any more than that and you won't win the league.

"We are a little bit behind target, it is not nice getting beat, but we will bounce back."

Midfielder Tom Baker missed Saturday's game with the flu while Ajay Leitch-Smith is expected to be ready to return next week suggesting Town are on the verge of extending his loan from Crewe.

Neil Ross was named among the substitutes, but Vince said the striker would not be ready to come back for a couple of weeks.