Bury 0 Rochdale 2

25/03/2006

 

Rochdale Supporters FC went into this eagerly awaited derby game on the back of a good 4-1 win against Tranmere the previous Saturday. They comfortably won this fixture 2-0 despite only having 10 men for an hour of the game following the teams first ever red card.

The game was played at the Goshen Sports centre and the pitch was heavy with a large puddle in the centre which provided some entertaining moments when the ball entered it. From the kick off the game was a scrappy affair with most of the play belonging to Rochdale but little coming of it until Anthony Kaminskas was unceremoniously hacked down inside the box. Craig Milnes duly dispatched the resultant spot kick to claim his 8^th goal in the last 6 games. 

In response to this Bury had a large amount of possession going forwards but could find little end product although they nearly had a chance at goal when Jon Coluccio dropped the ball from a cross but he recovered well and eventually claimed the ball. 

Rochdale managed to step up a gear and found some fluency to their play and a second goal came courtesy of player manager M Woodall. Kaminskas shot and the hapless Bury goalkeeper made a hash of it letting it roll under his body. However the ball got stuck in the mud on the line and it was left to Woodall to poke the ball home just before the defender reached it. 

The next incident of note was the booking of Kaminskas. The skilful front man took it past the Bury fullback and was hacked down and although the fall was slightly swan like it was a clear foul. The referee deemed it a dive and a yellow card was produced. Kaminskas disputed this decision and was booked for a second time becoming the first ever player of Rochdale Supporters to be sent off. Rumour has it that Kaminskas was sent off so he didn’t have to chip in a fiver for the pitch! 

The referee now had set a precedent and minutes later one Bury player was incensed after a tackle on him and was receiving a booking for his troubles. However he declined the opportunity to go up to the referee and substituted himself immediately. 

Manager Woodall adjusted his sides tactics accordingly and decided to go one up front for the final 15 minutes of the half and the team held out for a 2 goal half time lead. At half time Woodall substituted himself and brought on Ryan Higginbotham to do 90 minutes of running up front in just the one half. Lorimer also came on at right wing. 

The second half mainly belonged to Bury possession wise but they could do little with it and rarely threatened the Dale defence. Higginbotham meanwhile was running himself into the ground up front chasing every ball and it nearly paid off on several occasions. 

Bury did come close however when the ball bounced off the post and came clear and had another opportunity moments before but fantastic defending from Crossley and Irving kept them out. Dave Veevers and Luke Evans came on to complete the afternoons substitutions and the team held out for a brilliant 2-0 victory to maintain their unbeaten start in the IFA League. The victory took Rochdale up to 14^th place in the table having won 8 and drawn 1 of their first 9 games in the league whilst the defeat was only Bury’s third of the season, two of which have come at the hands of this Rochdale side.

 

The Squad

GK Jon Coluccio

RB Kenny Hindle

LB Phil Woodall

CD Simon Irving

CD Steven Crossley

RM Luke Lloyd

LM Jan Harwood

CM Craig Milnes

CM Paul Veevers

F Anthony Kaminskas

F Mark Woodall

Substitutes

Ryan Higginbotham replaced M Woodall

Andy Lorimer replaced Harwood

Dave Veevers replaced Hindle

Luke Evans replaced Lloyd

Jon Hudson: unused sub