Rochdale Online Alliance League Round Up

The final of The President’s Cup to be played at Heywood St James FC on Saturday 12May will be between Bridge and Fothergill & Whittles after a quite astonishing second semi final last Saturday.

Last season’s beaten finalists Whitworth Valley led 5-1 at half time only to be pegged back inside ninety minutes and beaten by two goals in the final three minutes of extra time.

Fothergill's seemed determined to keep to their intricate passing and possession retaining play from the very edge of their own penalty area onwards in the first half, only to be consistently closed down by a tremendously industrious Valley side and pressurised into errors that led to goals from Hoyle 2, Fenton, Marshall and Whitehead as they struggled to come up with a Plan B on a dry and bumpy Firgrove surface. The balance of play was summed up by Valley’s fourth goal as Fothergills keeper Whitelaw opted to throw out to his full back rather than relieve pressure with a kick downfield and Marshall was quick to anticipate, intercept and curl a perfect twenty five yarder over the stranded keeper.

It was no surprise that Fothergills’ manager Martin Nuttall opted for a change of both line up and game plan for the second half and the introduction of Morton allied to a much more direct approach certainly altered the balance of play.

Goals from Platt and Law narrowed the deficit to two with little more than fifteen minutes to play as Valley found it difficult to deal with a stream of set pieces and the ensuing aerial bombardment.

All that was needed for Valley was just one more goal on the break as Fothergills poured forward but as they appeared to be running out of energy their final touch was letting them down and it was Fothergills with two more goals in the dying minutes from Crossley and Law to sensationally take the game into extra time.

Fothergills were now favourites in the eyes of most spectators but it was Valley back in front through Whitehead when he found the time and space to send a free header over Whitelaw, only for a thumping header from Lord to tie matters up once more.

Back came Valley and it was that man Whitehead again latching on to a rare misjudgment from Doyle to head home his side’s seventh and surely winning goal as the game entered its final act. Not so, as a carelessly conceded penalty allowed Law to score his fourth of the afternoon and make it 7-7 from the penalty spot in the one hundred and eighteenth minute, and within a minute a low cross into the area from the left found substitute Ghafoor with an open goal from a yard out and he provided the coup de grace after an unbelievable two hours of football.

Both teams deserve the highest praise after a nerve shredding contest played in absolutely the right spirit and the Whitworth Valley management reflected exactly what the ROAFL aims to achieve with their sportsmanship after the game.

In the day’s league action Asia took another significant step towards ensuring their LRO Insurance Premier Division status as a Sazadul Haque hat trick propelled them to a 5-1 home win over FC Bury Town ; a defeat that means FC Bury Town are all but relegated as a win in their final game against Jacks House is unlikely to be enough to keep them up.

Rochdale Asia came out on top in the dress rehearsal for the final of The Alletson & Mitchell Memorial Trophy with a 3-1 home win over Weavers 2nds thanks to goals from Nasir Ali, Tanveer Aslam and Naveed Butt, and in doing so ended Weavers hopes of the runners up spot in the Matterson Cranes First Division.

Meanwhile in the Matthew Montgomery & Co Second Division champions Bridge dropped a couple of rare points following a 1-1 draw with Wardle 3rds at Rakewood, and it’s finally congratulations to Moorcock who are assured of promotion in their first season in the league as a result of Fothergill & Whittles 3rds midweek 8-3 thrashing of Wardle 3rds.