Rochdale Online Alliance League round up

Rochdale Online Alliance Football League

The first silverware of the ROAFL season was decided last weekend and it is congratulations to Bridge who, in their first season in the league, have won the Matthew Montgomery & Co Division 2 title.

A 5-2 home win over second placed AFC Royton has given them an unassailable lead at the top and leaves them free to focus on an intriguing President’s Cup semi final this coming Saturday against Premier Division big guns Wardle at Firgrove.

Unbeaten in the league since November, and having disposed of Wardle’s Premier Division title rivals Weavers in the last round, Bridge will certainly have the self belief necessary to meet this latest challenge.

Moorcock’s narrow away win at Castleton 2nds takes them into second place and gives them the advantage in the race for the second promotion slot. With four home games remaining this Saturday’s clash with AFC Royton may well be the pivotal fixture that will decide who joins Bridge in the first division next season.
Sudden Carling’s 3-1 away defeat to Wardle 3rds seems to have ended their realistic hopes of promotion, whilst keeping Wardle’s alive given that they still have to meet both Bridge and Royton.

Balderstone moved three points clear of Wardle 2nds at the top of the Matterson Cranes First Division as goals from Wild and Shaw enhanced their hopes of a second successive promotion in a 2-1 win over Whitworth Valley 2nds.
That put the proverbial lid on a bad day for Wardle as a goal from Forshaw ten seconds from time sent them crashing out of the Alletson & Mitchell Memorial Trophy. That was Forshaw’s second of the afternoon and Byrne netted the other goal as Weavers 2nds claimed their place in the final against the winners of the outstanding Rochdale Asia v Woodbank tie.

In The President’s Cup the other half of the draw has become somewhat clearer as Whitworth Valley moved in to the last four with a narrow 1-0 home win over a valiant White Lion outfit, and Fothergill & Whittles earned a quarter final tie at Hopwood Hall with Asia after a more comfortable 5-1 win at Derby High against Hargreaves. Chris Holbrook claimed a hat trick for Fothergills and full back Marc Wright added two more in the second period.

The LRO Premier Division season is set for an exciting climax at both ends of the table if the results of the past fortnight prove a reliable indicator.
At the top the 1-1 draw at Rutherford Park between Wardle and Weavers gives Fothergills every opportunity to close the gap on them both if they can take advantage of their game in hand.

Weavers dominated the opening forty five minutes and perhaps should have led by more than the one goal at the break ; the goal itself a superbly taken free kick from Paul Sykes. Wardle then had the better of the second period and Tim Murray scored the all important equaliser in his first game of the season.
Weavers’ cause wasn’t helped by the needless dismissal of Lee Brophy late on but the point maintains their four point advantage over Wardle.

If anything the four way battle in the bottom half of the division promises an even more enthralling end to the season and Jacks House climbed off the foot of the table with a thumping 6-2 home win over FC Bury Town at Walsden Rec.
Just three points separate the four teams and any one of the four could easily find themselves seventh, and bottom, after the final whistle has been blown on the current season sometime in early May.