Hockey: Rochdale Men’s Firsts 5 - 1 Bury Men’s Firsts

Kieran King scores the first of his two goals

This was the third consecutive season that Rochdale and Bury had met in the league and Rochdale continued their great run of five wins and only one loss out of the six games played.

In a typical derby day style, the game started at a frantic pace with both teams enjoying quality times of possession, but it was Rochdale that had more attacking spells, pushing Bury on to the back foot.

As the clock ticked on, Bury began to look more like scoring as Rochdale appeared stuck in second gear and were just going through the motions.

Bury did indeed strike first. A lack of concentration by Rochdale allowed the Bury forwards to capitalise and take the lead.

Rochdale began to play with a higher tempo and their passing game was beginning to make inroads deep in to the Bury half.

The constant pressing paid off and their reward came with an equaliser from defender Mark Eden. Eden had made a good tackle just at the top of his own D and played the ball in to the midfield duo of Michael Waddicor and Stuart Dearden. Continuing his run up the pitch, Eden was able to pick the ball up in the opposition D and with a good strike hit the back of the net.

Straight from the push back the second half was a different game. Rochdale's distribution down the wings was key. Both Keiran King and James Shepperd were now really pulling the Bury defence from pillar to post. The fast free flowing hockey was too much for Bury to keep up with and it paid off with two quick goals for King, to give Rochdale a 3-1 advantage.

Dearden and Waddicor were controlling the midfield, Waddicor had made several good runs during the game and earnt a penalty corner he thought he had scored from, only for the umpire to rule that the ball had not left the D before his strike.

With less than ten minutes to go, Rob Lees was on the score sheet, to increase Rochdale's lead. He trapped a shot going wide, dug it out from under his feet and passed the ball calmly over the line.

The final goal came from Shepherd who took on two Bury defenders and reversed a shot into the net that the keeper had no of chance saving.

The victory keeps Rochdale at the top of the table, three points clear and maintains their 100% record.

Rochdale Captain Michael Waddicor said: "We started slow again, but James Deacy in goal was alert and kept out the Bury chances. It’s another good win and we did manage to find the form we are capable of in the second half. Keiran King was the Oulderhill Leisure Centre man-of-the-match for his constant attacking threat."