Rochdale 4 Tranmere 1

18/03/2006

 

Rochdale went into this game against Tranmere having not played for the past 3 weeks because of all the bad weather. 

The squad was back to very nearly full strength. However still missing were Lee Woodhouse with a long-term injury, Simon Irving, Martin James and James Harcombe who were all unavailable due to work commitments. John Coluccio returned and came in for Ryan in goal. Steven Crossley replaced Irving, Paul Veevers for James and Dave Veevers for Harcombe. 

Due to problems getting a pitch to play on, the game ended up being played in Middleton on Astroturf.  In the words of Crossley, “the pitch of the future”. Due to absences the team lacked a captain and with no one wanting to take the responsibility, top scorer Anthony Kaminskas stepped up.

The game started slowly, with neither side getting the upper hand in the opening 10-minute exchanges. Then a long throw from Milnes found its way straight onto the head of Kaminskas for him the score with an unchallenged header.  From that point it was all Rochdale and the second goal came when a corner was only part cleared by the Tranmere defence. The ball broke the Milnes who hit a screamer from about 30 yards into the bottom of the goal.

Rochdale started to pass the ball around excellently, everyone in the team getting involved and every time Rochdale got into the Tranmere half they looked like scoring. The third goal came on about the half hour mark. A hopeful long ball forward by Milnes caught the Tranmere keeper off guard and he only managed to help to ball cross the goal line after letting it slip through his hands much to the despair of his team mates. The dubious goals panel had to decide if the goal should be an OG or credited to Milnes. After much careful consideration the goal was given to Milnes making it 7 goals in the last 5 games for the central midfield player. 

After going three down Tranmere started to push forward, some excellent defending by D Veevers, P Woodall, Hindle, Crossley and one or two save from Coluccio kept the score at 3 nil. With Tranmere pushing forward Rochdale broke down the left wing with excellent build up play by Lloyd, P Veevers, Kaminskas and Harwood. Harwood passed inside to player/manager M Woodall who finished off the move by calmly slotting the ball in the bottom corner. Woodall did not see the ball hit the net because he had lost a contact lens. 

Half Time 4-0 

Tranmere came back into the game in the second half, mainly because of the strong wind blowing across the pitch.  Rochdale had more chances to increase their lead and nearly everyone had a shot on goal including P Woodall who was even seen in the opposition penalty area! With Rochdale unable to increase their advantage Tranmere pulled a goal back. An excellent run and low finish left the keeper with no chance. 

The game ended 4-1, a good result, but everyone was left wondering how it was not more.

 

Squad

GK Jon Coluccio

RB Dave Veevers

LB Phil Woodall

CD Kenny Hindle

CD Ste Crossley

RM Luke Lloyd

LM Jan Harwood

CM Craig Milnes

CM Paul Veevers

F Anthony Kaminskas

F Mark Woodall

Substitutes

Ryan Higginbotham replaced Lloyd

Jon Hudson replaced Harwood