Rochdale Online Alliance League round-up

Rochdale Online Alliance Football League

Result of the day in the Rochdale Online Alliance Football League undoubtedly came at New Barn as second division strugglers Woodbank defeated first division Peels Arms in the Alletson & Mitchell Memorial Trophy.

Due to problems with the pitch at Nuttall Park Woodbank were forced to concede home advantage and spent the first thirty minutes in defensive mode before suddenly springing Peels’ offside trap for Hallsworth to open the scoring.
Peels came out in determined mood at the start of the second period and within minutes were in the lead as firstly Wood netted from the tightest of angles and then Rowlatt rounded the keeper and rolled the ball into the empty net. The Division 1 outfit now looked set to take charge but instead were pulled back again when Hallsworth picked up a long clearance to go on and claim his second goal of the afternoon. Chances came and went for both sides before the underdogs claimed the upset of the round as McDonald scored their third goal on seventy six minutes. Peels dominated the final quarter in search of a face saving equaliser and were denied by the woodwork and a splendid save by the Woodbank custodian in the dying moments of an entertaining game.

There was another victory for a lower ranked side at Springhill as goals from Coppin and Curran were not enough to save Waggon Athletic from a 2-4 home reverse at the hand of title chasing Division 2 Syke 2nds whilst the remaining game to survive the weather in this competition saw Prestwich Town safely through to the next round with a 4-1 win over AFC Royton. Hall, McGrath, Speakman and Ridley were the scorers for the victors with Cole netting Royton’s consolation goal.

The individual performance of the day came in the President’s Cup from Asia’s Nathan Chambers as his five goals saw off the challenge of first division Weavers 2nds who replied through Forshaw (2) and Lythgoe.

Castleton overcame a potentially tricky tie against Jacks House who themselves had designs on emulating their County Cup run with a solid performance capped by goals from Kearney and Feeney whilst Sudden Carling put an end to Fothergill & Whittles 2nds recent heroics with a 6-4 home victory courtesy of a Rob Holt hat trick added to goals from Rushden (2) and Barrett. The scoreline hardly paints the picture of the game as Fothergills led 4-1 with less than fifteen minutes to play. Sudden substitutions proved crucial enabling them to produce three late strikes and a strong extra time performance to leave the visitors free to concentrate on their promotion campaign.

The day’s one league game went ahead thanks to Wardle’s intelligent decision to leave their pitch inspection as late as possible and they were rewarded with a 2-1 victory over visitors Fothergill & Whittles.

Ex Wardle players Platt and Holbrook were key to Fothergills’ first half performance that saw them edge the game territorially without being able to convert opportunities into goals. However, the game swung decisively in Wardle’s favour on the hour mark when Smith turned the visitors back line and drove a low shot into the bottom corner. A second goal quickly followed as a corner kick dropped conveniently at the feet of Dorrington and he made no mistake from close range. Fothergills refused to concede defeat and Ives powerful header halved the deficit and they were presented with a golden opportunity to glean a point with the award of a hotly contested penalty in the closing minutes, only for the chance to be squandered.

The remaining cup ties will be completed this weekend, providing the Weather Gods relent, with the match of the day seemingly on the Matthew Moss 3G as Premier Division title chasers Weavers and Syke meet in the knock out format of the beautiful game.