Hockey: Didsbury Northern Ladies 3 - 0 Rochdale Ladies

Rochdale Ladies Hockey

Rochdale lost their final away fixture against Didsbury at the Armitage Sports Centre on Saturday and remain in the relegation zone.

Rochdale came out with high energy and intensity despite testing weather conditions with the ladies pushing high up the pitch to force pressure on the Didsbury team.

With the weather getting worse the umpires were forced to call time, to make a decision on the fate of the match with both team captains. It was decided to carry on the match but to regularly assess the condition of the pitch as the snow came down thick and fast.

Didsbury went in for the attack, testing the Rochdale defence, and after many failed attempts to penetrate the D, scored towards the end of the first half.

The second half was much of the same with both teams working hard and the ‘beast from the East two’ started to calm, however, the damage had been done and legs started to tire.

The Rochdale defence worked hard to try and keep the determined Didsbury players out of the D with varying success.

Didsbury’s second goal came from a tap in into the right-hand corner of the goal, Partington saved the first two attempts before the tap in snuck past.

Rochdale’s fate was sealed minutes later with the up front Didsbury player volleying a ball into the top left-hand corner of the D, a well-exccuted, skillful goal.

With minutes left of the second half, Rochdale pushed to try and even the score line. Collinson tackled a Didsbury attacker at the top of the D, ran to the middle before passing to Knowles. Knowles received the ball and smashed it into the D where Burrell was waiting. The Didsbury defence stepped up and cleared but Hodcroft intercepted and passed to Leech who slotted it to Pickering. 

This time the defenders cleared it over to the right-hand side of the pitch where Newton was able to hassle the Didsbury player and take possession before passing square to MacDonald. MacDonald then made one final attempt  but it wasn’t to be, and the game ended 3-0.

The player-of-the-match was Dionne Collinson.

Captain Kie Leech said: “It was a really tough match with the weather but we all got stuck in from the start and played very well as a team despite the conditions.”