Rochdale Online Alliance League round up

Rochdale Online Alliance Football League

With no top flight action in the last ten days attention has switched to the lower echelons of the Rochdale Online Alliance Football League and it’s newcomers Moorcock and White Lion making the early running in the Matthew Montgomery & Co Division 2 table.

Two successive 5-3 wins, over Castleton 2nds at home and away at Bridge, see Moorcock top the first published league table of the season though White Lion are just a point behind with a game in hand following their 5-1 home win against Horse & Farrier. Eleven goals in those two games and a second successive hat trick for Callum Lundergan, giving him seven in all.

Also tucked in behind the leaders with two wins from two are AFC Royton, 5-2 winners over the very same Horse & Farrier last Wednesday evening.
A first win of the season elsewhere for Sudden Carling, two more goals from Fitz McKenzie and a hat trick for Keith Melvin in a 5-1 romp at Jacks House 2nds while Fothergill & Whittles 3rds picked up their first point with a 3-3 home draw against Wardle 3rds at Greenvale.

Promoted Balderstone and Wardle 2nds are setting the pace in the Matterson Cranes Division 1 with 100% records so far. Goals from Hassall, Dowsing, Petrillo and Burns earned Balderstone a 4-0 away win at relegated Rochdale Asia while two Andrew Williams goals edged out Fothergill & Whittles 2nds at Rutherford Park.

Rochdale Sacred Heart bounced back from a home defeat by Weavers 2nds to send Waggon Athletic crashing to a third straight loss as Hearts ran in seven without reply in the only midweek game played this week. The early indicators are of a long hard season ahead from Waggon who sportingly chose to remain in the first division following Prestwich Town’s eve of season decision to resign from the league.

Weavers 2nds have bounced back from an opening day setback with the aforementioned victory over Rochdale Sacred Heart and an impressive 5-2 midweek away victory over Castleton in awful overhead conditions on the Matthew Moss 3G. Another hat trick here – Lucas Forshaw for Weavers, plus goals from Baron and Bennett, with both Castleton goals from Danny Oldham.

Plenty of County Cup action involving our teams but only limited success this season with Wardle the biggest casualties, beaten 4-2 at Blackburn United. The biggest losers were Hargreaves, perhaps predictably routed by Rochdalians, and Jacks House’ hopes of emulating last season’s successful run in this competition were ended by Rochdale St Clements, 2-0 winners at Burton Park.

FC Bury Town were three minutes away from going out as well as they trailed 1-0 at home to Newburgh Harrock United from Wigan when the game was abandoned.

So it seems fair to say that the draw was not particularly favourable to our clubs this time round and it is left to Weavers and Fothergill & Whittles to fly the flag in Round 2 though Waggon Athletic have still to play their postponed tie at Horwich RMI this weekend. Unfortunately Weavers win came at the expense of another of our teams, new boys Bridge downed but far from disgraced by five goals to two while Fothergill & Whittles made it a long and fruitless round trip for Britannia from Barrow with a comfortable 4-0 win at Whittles Park. 

Round 3 hasn’t been much kinder either as Fothergills have a difficult home tie against LAL outfit Chaddertonians and Weavers face a short but very tricky trip to Hooley Bridge Celtic.