Rochdale Online Alliance Football League Chairman’s Cup Final: Walsden 3 - 0 Fothergill & Whittles

Walsden C&FC

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Walsden cruised to an impressive victory against Fothergill & Whittles and Walsden C&FC in the Rochdale Online Alliance Football League Chairman’s Cup Final at Mayfield Sports Centre on Friday (16 May) to land their first silverware in only their second season in the league.

Fothergill had leading scorer Andy White back on the bench following injury, and Walsden started with Paul Marrow up front, as the game kicked off on a hard dry pitch in front of a fair sized crowd for a Friday evening final.

Fothergill carried the early threat and Sam Holt forced Jamie Shackleton in the Walsden goal into action with a longe range effort Shackleton was pleased to help over the bar, and out for the game’s first corner, which came to nothing.

The newly crowned league champions continued to push forward but were caught on the break to maximum effect as Walsden took a sixth minute lead.

Joe Gale picked up a loose ball deep inside his own half and carried it forward beyond the midfield area as the Fothergill back line dropped deeper to try to contain the danger. As Danny Brown pulled away to the left to create more space Gale cut inside and shot from twenty yards, a wicked bounce taking the ball over Nick Grindrod and into the bottom right hand corner of his goal to put Walsden a goal to the good.

Fothergill continued to enjoy the territorial advantage as the rain began to fall, but Walsden were creating the clearer cut chances with Nathan Rooks heading wide at the near post and Grindrod making a superb low save to foil Brown after he and his own centre half, Colin Harrison, had conceded a corner after a breakdown in communication.

Rooks was foiled again at the near post and Brown had a clear chance to make it two, but shot straight at Grindrod when through one on one, as Fothergill began to concede possession too easily in crucial areas of the pitch.

As the half hour mark approached the Walsden trio of Brown, Marrow and Joe Gale were causing the opposition’s back line all sorts of problems, creating space for the supporting midfielders to pick up second balls and concentrate play in the attacking third of the field.

Grindrod was called upon to block Brown out yet again, with Rooks firing the loose ball over from the edge of the area, and only a superb last ditch interception from Harrison prevented Joe Gale from doubling the lead.

Fothergill had moments of their own as half time approached, most noticeably from the impressive Chris Johnson, and he perhaps should have done better on thirty six minutes, shooting over after the ball fell to him off Cameron Hanson.

Johnson looked like he was in again minutes later, but the offside flag was raised as he fired narrowly wide following good approach play from Ryan Healey, and then Healey himself failed to hit the target with the final opportunity of the half.

With the rain becoming heavier, and damping down the dusty surface, both sides resumed the battle unchanged, and Walsden made a flying start to the second period as Joe Gale, Brown and Danny Welsh had goalscoring opportunities before referee Andrew Perrin waved away loud appeals for a penalty as Brown went down under the challenge of Jake Dixon.

Walsden were now sensing the kill, and the increasing uncertainty of the opposition’s back line, as time and again the long ball forward was finding Brown, Marrow and Josh Gale running off the shoulder of the last defender and into the areas that were clearly hurting Fothergill.

Both Brown and Marrow might have done better with chances that came their way as Fothergill finally introduced White to the game with a little over twenty minutes to play.

Walsden made a change themselves, with James Peavoy replacing Welsh, as Fothergill rallied, with Tyler Greenwood heading over and Nathan Shepherd almost wrong footing Shackleton with a curling attempt from sixteen yards.

Walsden struck to make it 2-0 on seventy two minutes. Caught in possession, and square at the back, as Brown pinched the ball and played Marrow through down the inside right channel, Fothergill could not recover in time and Peavoy was on hand to knock Marrow’s square ball beyond Grindrod just minutes after joining the action.

That was the very impressive Marrow’s final contribution, as he was replaced by Jonathan Sutcliffe who became the second Walsden change to have a dramatic effect on the game as he raced onto a long ball and was brought down by Grindrod as he rounded him, to earn the keeper the only yellow card of the night and Walsden a seventy sixth minute penalty confidently converted by leading scorer Brown.

With Sutcliffe’s pace a constant outlet for Walsden’s confident and controlled approach play the game was over as a contest and, with Walsden’s back line maintaining their dominance, the remaining quarter of an hour was played out to earn the Todmorden based outfit a deserved victory.

Walsden received the trophy from President John Culshaw.

Cameron Hanson was the recipient of the Man of the Match award.