Southport slaughter for first team

ROCHDALE welcomed top of the table Southport to Oulder Hill on Saturday and it turned out to be harsh lesson for the home side, who were again missing several players including three of their back four.

This would unfortunately be key to the game as Southport ran out 8-1 winners.

The only Rochdale goal was started and finished with James Shepherd who picked up the ball on the left wing before finding Mark Eden in the centre, Eden drove high and right before crossing for Shepherd who had made the run to deflect past the Southport keeper.

Rochdale also suffered from some ill discipline and had four players sent off in the second half.

Barry Gumbley moved into the centre of midfield in the second half and helped to steady the ship. The seconds took on Salford University and ran out 7-3 at the finish.

Salford started the game without a goalkeeper and opted to use a kicking back, a fact Rochdale quickly took advantage of with Michael Bohanna firing home with a smart finish to a well work worked move.

Possibly due to the elation of scoring so quickly, Rochdale switched off and some quick, skilful play from pushback saw Salford equalise almost instantly.

Getting back in the groove Rochdale started to have some sustained pressure, which allowed Bradley Robinson to somehow sneak the ball through several bodies on the goal line to get his first goal for the club. Another two were added by lead goalscorer Aaron Hunter before the break.

Unfortunately, a couple of green cards were shown to Rochdale for dissent and knocking the ball away, but they went in at half time winning 4-1.

At the restart, Salford’s umpire stated he had heard negative talk about himself during Rochdale’s half time team talk – it was a claim denied by all the Rochdale players, but it forced captain Imran Ansari to take a yellow card (off for 10 minutes) for failing to control his players.

The re-shuffle unsettled Rochdale and Salford fought back to 4-3. But with good discipline from then on, Rochdale showed quality will out with Aaron Hunter adding another two to his tally.

Although Rochdale did suffer two more technical green cards not normally given at this level, it didn’t stop their flow.

The Salford umpire awarded a Salford player a green for knocking the ball away and did award a penalty flick for a foot on the line.

This was dispatched expertly by Bjorn Brauns to get his first of the season.

Vice captain Graham Broadley said: “It was difficult to pick the man of the match this week (a nice problem to have) with many strong performances, an obvious choice being Aaron Hunter for scoring four and showing an awesome display in the midfield.

“Or Bradley Robinson, who has shown great maturity since his come back.

“But someone who, as always, listened to the coaching staff and does exactly what has been asked of him and fully justified his reward this week with his first goal.

“However, I felt Bjorn Brauns really put a shift in, doing a lot of important things not as easy to spot and kept his discipline really tight despite provocation and so was awarded the Flying Horse man of the match.

“An all round brilliant performance from all the lads earning three points to keep us at the good end of the table, sitting third by two points with one game to go before the break.”