Rochdale Online Alliance League round-up

Rochdale Online Alliance Football League

Pride of place for Week 18 of the Rochdale Online Alliance Football League undoubtedly goes to Fothergill & Whittles 2nds who cemented their place at the top of the Matthew Montgomery & Co Division 2 with an emphatic 10-3 demolition of hapless Rochdale Asia 2nds at a very wet and windy Firgrove.

With certain club committee members making somewhat rash promises if promotion is secured the F&W second string are going a long way this season to emulating the style and quality the first team have brought to the top division in the past few seasons. Well led on Saturday by skipper Nicky Sunderland they dominated possession and created a stream of chances for the front runners who benefitted in some style, especially 5 goal Peter McLoughlin. Craw, Woods and Collins worked tirelessly throughout and Law (2), Craw, Collins and Clark completed the scoring.

That defeat sent Rochdale Asia 2nds to the foot of the table as Horse & Farrier pushed Fothergills for the result of the day with their 1-0 home victory over Woodbank. A narrow victory but none less the sweeter for that and coming at the tenth attempt this season. In the only other game to survive the weather in this division goals from Knight and Kean were not quite enough to prevent Sudden Carling 2nds from slipping to a 2-3 home reverse at the feet of Syke 2nds who remain second, a point behind Fothergills and with two games in hand.

In the Matterson Cranes Division 1 games that survived the deluge Whitworth Valley 2nds gained what could be a crucial three points come the season end with a 1-0 away victory at leaders Weavers 2nds. Now just four points behind but with two games in hand Whitworth have now joined both Weavers and Jacks House as genuine title contenders. Prestwich Town might have been in the title mix themselves but for a poor start to the season and their fifth game unbeaten perhaps should have provided them with more than just the one point Fitton’s goal earned against bottom club Rochdale Sacred Heart.

Both Syke and Weavers demonstrated emphatically that Castleton still have much to do to secure their first ever Concept Filter Products Premier Division title with five goal victories over Asia and Whitworth Valley respectively. Lester Peters (2), Jordan Peters, Fletcher and Staniland netted for Weavers against a Valley side struggling to recapture their form of the first half of last season on their return to the league.

Meanwhile on a surface that would give Keith Hill recurring nightmares Syke took an early lead against Asia but found themselves behind at the break. They were level inside three minutes of the second half but the game really became bogged down in the prevailing conditions until Syke sprung the Asia offside trap to regain the lead with less than fifteen minutes to play. Within ninety seconds it was game over in the most unfortunate of circumstances for a battling Asia side as an attempted clearance ballooned back into the net off a bemused Syke forward and the fifth goal in time added on only served to give the final scoreline a somewhat flattering appearance for Syke whose goals were shared by Highton (2), O’Brien (2) and Fairclough.

Some interesting looking ties as cup action returns this weekend with Weavers 2nds eyeing up an upset at Firgrove against Asia in the Presidents Cup and, dare I predict, another upset at Matthew Moss as Fothergill & Whittles 2nds take on Sudden Carling?!

Castleton and Jacks House also promises to be an interesting affair given Jacks impressive run in the County Cup while in the Alletson & Mitchell Memorial Trophy Syke 2nds trip to Waggon Athletic seems on paper to be the likeliest chance of an upset in that competition.