Football: Oldham 2 - 3 Rochdale

The inaugural Ernie Cooksey memorial trophy match

Rochdale beat local rivals Oldham Athletic to take the spoils in the inaugural Ernie Cooksey memorial trophy match. Ian Henderson came off the bench to earn his side victory with a close range finish after Matty Done and Jimmy Keohane had helped Rochdale race into an eleventh minute 2-0 lead. Oldham pegged back Brian Barry-Murphy’s side before half-time before Henderson struck with seven minutes remaining.

The game was played a decent tempo despite it being a friendly and with the Ernie Cooksey Memorial Trophy up for grabs, the fans created a decent atmosphere inside Boundary Park. Ernie Cooksey, who played for both sides but sadly passed away at the age of just 28 in 2008 after a battle with cancer, is fondly remembered by both sets of fans and its with thanks to both clubs' supporters' trusts who came up with the idea for the trophy.

Dale raced into a 2-0 lead early in the game as their pace and passing game caught Oldham on the back foot. Jim McNulty’s long diagonal pass to Calvin Andrew saw the striker in behind the full back and his low cross into the six yard box, was turned in by the sliding Matty Done at the back post.

1-0 soon became 2-0 with what would be the goal of the game. A quick interplay down the right saw firstly Callum Camps and then Andrew with clever back-heels with Jimmy Keohane gathering before slotting into the bottom corner from 18 yards out.

The second goal seemed to wake up the home side who started to impose themselves on the game with Mohamad Sylla beating the offside trap; but McNulty was quickly back though to tackle before a shot at goal.

Oldham halved the deficit just before the half hour mark when the Dale back line failed to clear a loose ball and when the ball dropped at the feet of Mohammed Mouche, the captain made no mistake from eight yards.

The game was levelled five minutes later; a deep cross from left was headed back across goal with substitute Tom Hamer slamming in from close range.

The Latics almost edged in front in first half stoppage time. Zak Mills’ powerful drive was brilliantly tipped away by Brad Wade in the last action of the half.

The second half was less of an event than the first with the tempo dropping off and goalmouth action hard to come by. Josh Lillis, a half-time substitute in the Dale goal, punched away another Mills effort which was the closest Oldham came to netting a third.

The winning goal came when Rochdale captain Ian Henderson pounced inside the six yard box ten minutes after coming on as a substitute.

It was Dale’s first win of pre-season as they move closer towards the first league game away at Tranmere Rovers at the start of next month.