Derby delight for Rochdale
WITH both the ladies and men’s second team having a week off it was left to the Rochdale men’s first team to carry the torch on Saturday with a game against local rivals Bury.
This was the third consecutive season that Rochdale and Bury had met in the league and Rochdale wanted to continue their great run of five wins and only one loss out of the six games in total.
In typical derby day style, the game started at a frantic pace with both teams enjoying quality possession.
Rochdale enjoyed more attacking spells, pushing Bury on to the back foot. However, as the clock ticked on, it was Bury though who began to look more like scoring as the home side appeared stuck in second gear and were just going through the motions.
With twenty minutes gone, Bury did indeed strike first. A lack of concentration allowed the Bury forwards to capitalise and take a 1-0 lead.
The jolt to the system didn’t exactly fire Rochdale up, but it did get them in to third gear.
They began to play with a higher tempo and their passing game was beginning to make inroads deep in to the Bury half.
The constant pressing further up the pitch paid off and their reward came with an equaliser from defender Mark Eden.
Eden had made a great tackle just at the top of his own D and played the ball in to the midfield duo of Michael Waddicor and Stuart Dearden. Continuing his run up the pitch, Eden was able to pick the ball up in the opposition D and a sweet strike hit the back of the net.
It was 1-1 at half time and Bury looked by far the happier team.
Rochdale’s poor distribution and lack of goals after they had several chances was the jist of Waddicor’s half time team talk.
Straight from the push back the second half was a different game – clearly the captain’s words had hit home. Rochdale’s distribution down the wings was key. Both Keiran King and James Shepperd were now really pulling the Bury defence from pillar to post. The fast, free flowing hockey was too much for Bury to keep up with and it paid off with two quick goals for King, to give Rochdale a 3-1 advantage.
The whole team were now playing much more like what they are capable of.
Dearden and Waddicor were controlling the midfield. Waddicor had made several good runs during the game and earnt a penalty corner he thought he had scored from, only for the opposition umpire to rule that the ball had not left the D, before his strike. Everyone else, including the spectators, clearly had.
The decision didn’t matter. With less than ten minutes to go, Rob Lees was on the scoresheet to make it 4-1 to Rochdale.
After he trapped a shot going wide, he dug it out from under his feet and passed the ball calmly over the line.
The final goal came from Shepherd who managed to take on two defenders and reverse a shot into the net that the keeper had no of chance saving.
The 5-1 victory kept Rochdale at the top of the table, three points clear and maintained their 100 per cent record.
Waddicor said: “We started slow again, but James Deacy in goals was alert and kept out the Bury chances. It’s another good win and we did manage to find the form we are capable of in the second half. I would have to give Keiran King the Oulderhill Leisure Centre man of the match for his constant attacking threat.”
This weekend Rochdale Ladies host The University of Manchester Womens 3s at Oulder Hill, 12 noon push back. That is followed straight after by Rochdale Mens 2s against Leyland & Chorley at 2pm. Rochdale mens 1s travel away to Leyland and Chorley for a 2.15pm push back. felt it