Second XI pick up first away victory

ROCHDALE travelled to Didsbury last weekend in search of their first away win – and returned home with a welcome three points after achieving their objective.

Strong belief continued from the start of the match, as although it was Didsbury’s push back, they only succeeded in playing it over their own back line to give Rochdale an early long corner. Keeping them penned in, it was not long before an early chance fell to Josh Robinson who slotted home a nice volleyed hit from a spill to give the away team an early lead.

Managing to keep the pressure on Didsbury and off Rochdale’s back line, Rochdale were soon in control of the match in the early stages.

The sustained pressure and Didsbury’s frustration at being unable to play through led to another Rochdale goal as Robinson received a pass at the top of the circle, created some room with a smart turn and struck it fiercely into the bottom corner to double Rochdale’s lead.

The away side started to get a little carried away though and thought it was going to be easier than it ended up being, as Didsbury changed tactics and started to find ways through as the away team tired a little as the half wore on.

Fortunately, though, the home team were unable to create many clear-cut chances, although one of their youngsters came close with a good reverse stick effort from near D top.

Through a combination of dogged determination and good defending, Rochdale managed to see out the half with their two-goal lead intact. Some clever observations were made by coach Ansari at half time to restore control of the game and not let the lead slip as had happened several times away from home. Namely the attacks needed to be more down Rochdale’s right and to switch the ball better, rather than carrying the ball into trouble down the centre.

Consequently, Rochdale started the second half better than they ended the first and created some good short corner opportunities early on in the second half but were unable to capitalise on them.

It was not one sided though and Didsbury managed to produce some better attacks than they had in the first and would in fact score next.

Hitting Rochdale on a counter, the ball came out wide, into the middle and then back out to the same wing again.

They then carried the ball across the top of the circle before driving wide near the baseline.

The cross was then fired in before being deflected into the narrowest of gaps to get one back for Didsbury.

It was a scare for Rochdale, who had again been on top, but with not being able to score again themselves so far, there were concerns they would throw away another two-goal lead.

It was not to be though, as a clever three pass move found Steven Hirst at the back post for a first-time deflection to restore Rochdale’s two goal lead.

The rest of the game was mostly Rochdale’s, with several more good efforts including one cleared off the line.

Captain Adam Massey: “Not our best performance, but good enough for a deserved three points and first win away. Didsbury started slowly which helped us, but they did cause a few threats as they got better as the game went on.”

Man of the match went to Josh Robinson, for some excellent forward play and two well taken goals. Next weeks opponents are Wigan away.