Hockey: Lytham St Annes Men's 3 - 4 Rochdale Men's Seconds

Imran Ansari

Rochdale men's second team travelled to Lytham on Saturday and put last week's defeat behind them. 

The game saw the return of Scott Hempsall-Jones to Rochdale’s strikers, he had been a key figure in last season's promotion with his ability to find the back of the net.

For Rochdale's opening goal Hempsall-Jones turned provider with a through ball to find Dean Close at the back post for a simple tap in.

Both teams played with a determination and at times the game got a little ugly.

Lytham’s midfield were struggling to keep a tight grip on Rochdale's Imran Ansari and one particular bad challenge led to Captain Karl Wynn speaking to both the umpires at half time.

Coming out for the second half and taking the game by the scruff of the neck, Ansari used his wealth of experience and turned the second half into a master class. Lytham couldn’t get near him and it wasn’t long before he had created the opening for Bjorne Brauns to score Rochdale's second.

Lytham didn’t give up  and continued to attack pulling a goal back with a dubious use of a shoulder to control the ball before finding the back of the net.

Sensing Rochdale were rattled, Lytham continued to push on and eventually equalised.

Rochdale finally settled back in to their rhythm and began to dominate, with Hempsall-Jones finding openings time and time again.

With 15 minutes left on the clock Hempsall-Jones got on the score sheet and put Rochdale back in the lead.

He had saved the best until last, picking the ball up wide right he took on what seemed like most of the Lytham team single handedly until he found himself just in the D, where he released a reverse stick shot which flew into the far top corner. The Lytham keeper never saw it coming.

At 4-2 and very little time left Rochdale relaxed too much and allowed Lytham one last consolation goal to make the final score 4-3 to Rochdale.

Captain Karl Wynn: ”It was a very hard game, with a loss of discipline from both teams at times. I thought Imran Ansari was exceptional, he rose above the hard challenges on him and used his skill and experience to give us all a lesson in how to conduct yourself on the field and play the game at the same time. Without a doubt earning himself the Quat-Chem man-of-the-match. award”