Bjorne bags a hat-trick

WITH Rochdale having won the previous game and 7th place not far behind, the only good outcome from the game was going to be a win against St Helens who had beaten Rochdale 6-0 in their previous game to be able to move ahead of Didsbury for 5th place.

The game started in the same manner as the game against Bolton with Rochdale being able to throw everything they had at St Helens within the first 10 minutes. Within this time the Rochdale players had penetrated the D many times and had come close to scoring a couple of times.

However it would be the short corners that would once again prove useful against an opposition. With a great injection Graham Broadley struck the ball and Dean Close got across and deflected the goal in to take them into the lead. This lead would be the start of yet another dominant display by Rochdale and allowed Rochdale to feel better about their chances of hitting above their end of season target. With the game going well Rochdale had another short corner and with a great shot by Graham Broadley it deflected off the defender’s stick and hit the netting. This would then be disallowed for being above the backboard even though there was a deflection.

With this slight letting down Rochdale upped the tempo and St Helens just couldn’t cope with Bjorne Brauns who scored the first of his three goals in this first half.

As the game progressed the Dale players were getting rather frustrated with the lack of decisions being made by the umpires and the first player off was Dean Close and not long after the captain had returned. Brian Robinson was also sent off for shouting out towards the umpire leaving Rochdale without a goal keeper and having to play with a kicking back and a player down. With the keeper off the St Helens players took full advantage and brought a goal back.

The second half however would prove to be more fruitful for Rochdale who put St Helens under pressure from the beginning and Bjorne Brauns scored the other two goals to secure his hat-trick.

Not long after the lead had extended St Helens managed to get another two goals to really bring them back into game. Unfortunately for St Helens Bjorne Brauns was running through on goal and the keeper took out Brauns without getting the ball resulting in a penalty flick. The captain stepped up to the penalty spot and calmly placed the ball in the back of the net to give Rochdale a commanding lead.

Finally, Graham Broadley found the back of the net to secure the win against a demoralised St Helens.