Hockey: Didsbury Northern Men’s 6ths 1 - 2 Rochdale Men’s 2nds

Rochdale Men’s 2nds

Saturday 1 April saw the final matches of the 2022/23 season hockey season take place. Rochdale were away at the Armitage Centre in Manchester against Didsbury, knowing they needed to equal or better Buxton’s result against Bowden Men’s 8ths earlier in the day to finish second in the table.

Even though the Rochdale game was a 5.15pm push back, no word had come through yet on the Buxton game despite it pushing back at 10am. Left in the dark on what was required, Rochdale would go for the win in a mostly deserted Armitage Centre, apart from some very welcome support from some of the player's loved ones.

​Straight from the off Rochdale took the game to Didsbury, pressing them high and trying to win the ball whilst keeping formation. It worked well by and large, with Didsbury just limited to the odd counter attack in the opening 20 minutes. Rochdale created a few chances and managed to earn several penalty corners, unfortunately none of these were converted.

​The away team's attacking line was largely frustrated by some good defending and goalkeeping, which allowed the home side to develop some confidence to go forwards and they managed a ten-minute spell where they caused the visitors a great deal of problems. Didsbury got a few penalty corners for their efforts. The first was deflected over by a defender, with a Didsbury forward getting the final touch to let it go for a defensive hit out. Unfortunately the second was a strike from the right of the D, which bobbled and squeezed in at the left hand post to give Didsbury a one goal lead before the break.

​Remembering what was said before the game about not falling out with one another and to keep working, a rousing speech was given by captain Adam Massey to get the lads fired up... There was just the small matter of scoring two goals in the second half without reply.

​The second half began as the first had done with relentless attacking from Rochdale. This time the half backs and wingers made better use of the channel and forced some good chances. A good level of pressure was sustained for around ten minutes, but it was beginning to look like it would be for nothing again. That was until Stuart Dearden received the ball on the baseline, dribbled into the circle and squared a pass to Massey, who slotted a neat slap hit over the prone keeper into the back of the net to level the scores.

​There was still a good 20 minutes to go, but Rochdale probably needed the win at this stage (although they had no way of knowing for sure). The away team switched to a back three, with the centre backs getting forward when possible, to help the midfield maintain the pressure. It did cause a couple of problems at the back, with former centre forward come goalkeeper Dean Close required to make a couple of important stops to keep the score level.

​A second goal was still eluding the away team, when the shout went up that Buxton had won, which meant only a win would be good enough for second place and possible promotion. The level-headed ladies on the sidelines shouted for the keeper to be substituted for an attacking player which happened with five minutes to go. With the score at 1-1 still Rochdale won a penalty corner. A good strike from D top that nearly found the bottom corner, but found a defender's foot instead meant another penalty corner was awarded. The final whistle went, meaning that this would be the final play of the match.

​Everyone came up. If the ball cleared the 23m line or the defence won a foul Rochdale would finish 3rd. They had to score from this, a subsequent penalty corner or penalty flick to get that all important goal. The injection was good to the top of the circle. It was switched left past the only runner to Andy Meanock. He controlled it and slapped it goalwards. It went straight through the goalkeeper's feet and into the back board. A mighty roar erupted form the whole Rochdale team. The whistle went and the goal was awarded. A massive pile on ensued around Andy at the top of the circle, with everyone from the bench joining in. After a minute, the team got up and shook hands with the Didsbury players, who gave their congratulations on finishing second and the Rochdale players congratulated them on being champions. Final score Rochdale 2 - 1 Didsbury.

​Captain Massey said: "It was a dramatic finish to a good, albeit stressful, season. The lads put a great deal of work in after last season to get to this stage. The joy and the relief went that goal went in made it all worthwhile.

"We do feel a bit for Buxton, who have only just missed out on second place by goal difference, despite a dominant start to the season, but I’m sure they will dig in and walk it next year. For us on the other hand, we need to have another good pre-season just to survive in a higher league, if we do go up (which will depend on how the leagues are structured next season).

"In the meantime, we plan on enjoying our end of season do and some downtime with our friends and family.

"Man of the match was difficult, Andy was an obvious contender with a solid performance and the all important goal when it mattered, but the vote went to the young Adam Boodeea for another enthusiastic and talented performance."