Hockey: Preston Fifths 1 - 6 Rochdale Seconds

Luke Rosebury - Rochdale Hockey Seconds

Rochdale Men’s Seconds travelled to Preston on Saturday and took revenge against the only team to take points off Rochdale last year.

Whilst both teams won promotion, a 1-1 draw in the first game of the season was the only blot on Rochdale's record.

Preston have got off to a much better start than Rochdale this season so a tough game was predicated by Rochdale captain, Karl Wynn.

Within minutes Rochdale had taken the lead when Barry Gumbley weaved and worked his way in to the Preston D drawing the defence and allowing him to slip the ball to an unmarked Dean Close who tapped it in at the far post.

Preston continued to press and if it wasn’t for an inspired Dave Edwards in the Rochdale goal they could easily have gone in at the break with a comfortable lead.

From early on in the second half it was clear Preston were tiring and this allowed Gumbley to dominate. His close quarter dribbling was causing the Preston defence all sorts of problems and again a perfectly timed pass found Close at the top of the D, who slotted the ball in to the bottom corner with a neat reverse stick.

Close ticked off his hat-trick with a bottom corner deflection from an Imran Ansari injection into the D and scored his fourth when he ensured a Gumbley shot crossed the Preston goal line.

Preston were getting increasingly frustrated with Gumbley and on more than one occasion the umpires had to step in and warn them about the heavy tackles going in as a last ditch attempts to stop him.

Rochdale’s fifth and sixth goals came from top D shots from Bjorne Brauns and Andy Meanock.

The win means Rochdale leapfrog Preston into fourth place in the league.

Karl Wynn: “This was a fantastic win for us, and a great team effort. Barry Gumbley and Dean Close obviously stand out, but the Quat-Chem man-of-the-match goes to Luke Rosebury who overed every inch of the pitch today, read the game brilliantly and was in the right place at the right time, every time.”