Hockey: City of Manchester Thirds 0 – 4 Rochdale Men’s Seconds

Rochdale Men's Seconds triumphed over City of Manchester Men's Thirds

Rochdale Men's Seconds played City of Manchester’s Men’s Thirds on Saturday away at the Armitage Sports Centre, and with the recent run of form, Rochdale went there with confidence at an all-time high.

The game started off positively with Rochdale gaining early possession and throwing everything forward.

With a bit of luck and good fortune, the umpires both missed an early foot in the D which fell nicely for Luke Rosebury, who slotted the ball away with ease, which caused a minor uproar with the opposition.

However, Rochdale carried on and kept their heads better in this first half and with a nice little reverse flick from captain, Dean Close, to Aaron Hunter, they were able to secure a two-goal lead from a tidy bit of play.

Rochdale, who were not going to rest on their laurels, especially after the hard-fought game the week before, continued to push for more goals. With a great ball to Bradley Robinson from midfield, Robinson kept calm and played an inch perfect ball across goal to Rosebury, who once again slotted one in with a flick finish to enable Rochdale to have a nice three-goal lead going into half time.

The second half wasn’t going to be as kind to Rochdale as they were then put under a lot of pressure through the middle of the pitch.

The defensive line of Alex Paolozzi, who returned to the team for the first time this season, Dave Jackson and Dave Marlow, along with Brian Robinson in goal, absorbed a lot of pressure for majority of the game.

With not long left, Rochdale managed to get a short corner and a quick ball out from Close to Imran Ansari secured a fourth goal with a spectacular lifted ball which bounced in front of the keeper and through his legs.

After the match had finished and all the result were in, there was a welcome morale boost with St Helens being beaten by Northern, resulting in Rochdale taking the top spot.

Coach Aasim Choudhary said: “The team didn’t play like the team that beat Northern last week and as a result this game felt much harder. It was good for the team to be able to grind out a result but the whole team know that they will need to perform better to maintain the top position in the league.”

The Flying Horse Man of the Match was Luke Rosebury.