Hockey: Buxton Men's 3rds 3 - 1 Rochdale Men's 2nds

Photo: Rachel Jackson

Graham Broadley was named man of the match

Saturday 24 September saw Rochdale men's second team face Buxton men's third team in their first league game of the season at Buxton.

After a heavy defeat in the last pre-season friendly, a good performance was required. Rochdale started brightly and were soon able to dictate the play, with a good half court press and playing out from the back with confidence. The away side were penetrating Buxton's 23 metre line and circle with ease. Some half chances from open play and penalty corners were being created.

This mounting pressure resulted in the opening goal, as captain Adam Massey created a little space and fired a confident, firm and accurate shot into the bottom corner to give Rochdale the lead early on. It was not to last though, as Buxton started to win a few penalty corners. At the third attempt the home team got a firm shot into the bottom corner to get back level.

Rochdale were a little aggrieved, as they felt Buxton had committed two stick tackles and used a foot in the build up before the penalty corner, but as the Commonwealth Games showed us, this happens even at the top level and the players just have to get on with it.

Rochdale's heads went down and the back line got disrupted, due to Dave Marlow limping off with a recurring hamstring problem. This resulted in a second goal for Buxton, as Rochdale got caught in possession in their own circle. A quick shot resulted in a spill to the back post, which was quickly put in despite the defences best efforts.

Rochdale did manage to start coming back into it, but were 2-1 down at half time. Dave Marlow came back on after half time, as it was just a strain. The away team came back strong again in the second half and took the fight to Buxton. They were again creating half chances from open play and forcing several penalty corners. Unfortunately, this worked against them as Buxton managed to turn one over and counter. It was quick, but Rochdale managed several attempts to stop the danger, but momentum and good fortune were with the home side as they scrambled it over the line to lead 3-1.

Rochdale dominated the rest of the game, with Buxton rarely posing any further threat. Again though Rochdale were unable to make their dominance count. Several times they came close, but it never quite came off, as they were just missing that extra bit of belief and confidence that makes the difference in the final third.

It was another frustrating day in the office for Rochdale but Buxton were a decent team and did their job well enough. It's a tough loss for the lads to take, but they need to take that bitterness of defeat into training and use it as motivation to improve.

The man of the match was Graham Broadley