Rochdale Online Alliance Football League Report

Rochdale Online Alliance Football League

A crucial weekend in the Rochdale Online Alliance Football League saw FC Bury Town and Fothergill and Whittles 2nds secure significant away wins to underline their status as favourites for their respective titles.

The heavy rain on Saturday morning left match official John Cunningham with a difficult decision to make at Littleborough Sports Centre as the pitch was in poor condition, but with both sides keen to play the game got the go ahead albeit reduced to forty minutes each way.

As expected it was a keenly contested game led for some time by King William IV before Matt McBride equalised for the title challengers. Chances came and went at both ends until Zaid Awad turned in a crucial winning goal with five minutes to play. There was still time for King William IV to create a golden chance to level matters but it went begging and Bury return to the top of the table as Balderstone had no game.

The win means Bury are a tantalising one hundred and eighty minutes of football away from clinching their first ever Sartori Sharpening Services Premier Division title, with away games at Fothergill and Whittles (12 April) and Whitworth Valley (26 April) to play.

Fothergill & Whittles 2nds completed a high scoring league double over leaders Sudden at Matthew Moss to close within four points of them, with three games in hand, at the top of the Matthew Montgomery & Co First Division.

Sudden began much the stronger of the two sides with Danny Holmes winning the midfield battle to set up Fitz McKenzie for a seventh minute opener. Sudden had chances to extend their lead, but failed to take them, and slowly the visitors began to get themselves back into the game, eventually levelling in the thirty seventh minute through Chris Johnson as his near post header from a left wing corner flew in to the net.

It was Sudden who again started the half brightly and they were back in front through McKenzie in the forty seventh minute as his low strike from the edge of the box beat Grindrod after Fothergills failed to clear their lines. However, Fothergills were now beginning to go through the gears and in Andy White they have by far and away the best goalscoring striker in the division, and he and Chris Johnson were now being given chances to get their side back in the game as Sudden pressed for a third and Fothergills began to find their passing range and space in behind the home defence. 

The net result was a devastating burst of three goals in ten minutes to fire Fothergills two goals ahead only for Holmes to reduce the deficit on sixty eight minutes. This proved nothing more than the catalyst for Fothergills to switch the ball around to even better effect and fire home another three goal burst inside six minutes to seal the points. Late goals from Holmes and Needham for a bewildered home side were cancelled out by White and Greenwood, and a breathless second period ended with no less than twelve goals on an increasingly sodden surface.

The win was a triumph for manager Nick Sunderland’s cool thinking under pressure on the touchline and his side’s greater cohesion, team spirit and resilience under pressure, lessons Sudden would do well to learn from as they imploded under that same pressure and a lack of authoritative leadership on the field meant they were incapable of dealing with the questions Fothergills asked of them in the second half.

Elsewhere in the Premier Division, third placed Whitworth Valley maintained their interest in the title race with a 3-1 home win over Woodbank with goals from Wain, Foster and Marshall, the last being a contender for goal of the season according to match official Tim Buckley.

At the bottom end of the table Fothergill & Whittles are showing signs of their old form as a second successive win moved them within a point of Rochdale Sacred Heart, with five games in hand in the battle to avoid the relegation places. Damian Ghafoor (2) and a collector’s piece from Martin Nuttall saw off Woodbank 3-1 at Whittles Park.

Nasir Ali, Omar Malik, Munawar Mohammed and Michael Rushton were the scorers as Rochdale Asia returned to winning ways in Division One with a 4-2 away win at Rochdale Galaxy.

F&W Rovers remain fourth after a 3-1 home win over Horse & Farrier thanks to goals from Whiteman (2) and Kibble.

Another striker in form is Syke’s Jack Coop, he added four more goals to his season’s tally as his side edged out Balderstone 2nds by the odd goal in eleven at Kingsway Sports Centre to record their fourth league win of an ever improving first season for them.

Attention turns to The President’s Cup this Saturday. The one remaining quarter final game - Fothergill & Whittles versus Sudden - has been switched to Matthew Moss due to the heavy rain of late. Whitworth Valley await the winners in the last four whilst Valley’s 2nd team meet Fothergill & Whittles 2nds in Division One’s game of the day at Rawstron Street.