Rochdale into last four of the Cup
ROCHDALE progressed to the semi-finals of the Lancashire Cup after victory against Ormskirk.
This was the first time Rochdale had faced Ormskirk in a few years, so neither team knew what to expect. Both teams started extremely quickly with hard tackles flying in, and both teams missing early chances.
The pace was frantic and there was no way it could last the full much, and things eventually settled down, but not before Ormskirk took an early 2-0 lead.
Rochdale began to take more control of the game once the pace had settled and managed to pull a goal back before half time when Keiran King managed to spin the defence and play a perfect cross goal pass to find the on rushing Michael Waddicor for a simple tap in.
One minute before half time, the Ormskirk keeper and an outfield player were both carded, as was Rochdale forward Scott Hempsall-Jones after an altercation in the D.
The second half saw Rochdale take advantage of the extra man and scored through a Waddicor reverse flick and a King penalty corner strike, making it 3-2.
With both teams back up to full strength, the play was from end to end, but Rochdale didn’t look likely to concede again with James Decay in net and Jonathan Herreran leading the defence.
Rochdale began to dominant with all the possession in attack, and goals soon followed from James Shepherd and David Gowers.
Sean Carney also got his name on the score card when the ball bounced nicely for him after a tackle and he slotted the ball passed the on coming keeper.
It was, however, to be Michael Waddicor’s day as he rounded off a great result by running through several bad challenges to put the ball pass the rushing keeper and secure a hat-trick, and man of the match for the second time this weekend.
Rochdale Captain Michael Waddicor said: “Today was a great result after a tough game yesterday.
“Ormskirk flew in with rash challenges but the lads kept their cool and concentrated on the win.
“Hopefully Stuart Dearden doesn’t have the suspected broken toe after one of the many bad tackles from Ormskirk.
“Personally, I am happy of course with the hayrick and second man of the match this weekend, but the main thing is we are through to the semi-finals against Mossley Hill in January.”