Saturday 14 October saw Rochdale at home to a very good Horwich side. The weather started nicely, but some scattered showers blew in and made for a cold wet finish for the welcome support that had turned out. A little late due to traffic issues, but the home side had a good team talk and warm up before the game.
Rochdale started well for the opening ten minutes, pressing high and taking the game Horwich. Two good early chances were created. One was a penalty corner, the other a baseline cross that didn’t quite get met at the back post. It was a good opening, but the Horwich team were all experienced players and it wasn’t long before they changed things up, to get control of the play.
Taking advantage of the no offside rule in field hockey, Horwich started leaving at least two forwards high in the Rochdale circle, to pin the defence back. This stopped Rochdale’s midfield getting support from the back line to keep possession and created space for them to explode into on the counter. The result of this was that now the game started to be played in the Rochdale half.
Horwich went all in on this new approach and had an unbelievably aggressive press, not only were the full backs swamped immediately, they even had forwards cutting off a pass to the goalkeeper. Despite practising this at training, Rochdale had no answer to this press in the first half and while they fought bravely like the knight Roland, they were as doomed as he was, being only a matter of time before Horwich opened the floodgates.
It did still take a bit of good fortune for the away side to get their first. An injury forced Brian Robinson off earlier than planned. Replacing him required two players to change position and the chaos contributed to a Horwich forward getting in on Rochdale’s right and smashing a shot home. It may have been the first, but it wasn’t the last. A second goal came not long after. The defence pushed out as instructed, but didn’t hear the shout from the goalkeeper that Horwich had a man free on the penalty spot. A simple 25–yard ball gave him a simple finish from 5 yards out for their second.
Another defensive mix up contributed to Horwich’s third goal, this time from a penalty corner. A bobbled shot went straight down the middle of the goal. The defensive runner went to clear it and missed. The goalkeeper kicked it to clear, caught the defender in the back. It squirmed over to a Horwich forward, who slap hit it straight into the backboard. The devastatingly bad first half was capped off by a fourth goal from Horwich. Again, from a penalty corner. This time it was just a drag flick that managed to find its way through.
Some good words at halftime from coach Imran Ansari. Rochdale had failed in their first objective to stop Horwich playing. The home side needed to press higher and to stop falling for interception traps. Also needed to go out with the mentality of trying to win the second half, even though the most optimistic forecast wasn’t seeing anyway of coming back from 4–0 down against these guys.
The second half Started better for Rochdale, pressing high and taking the game to Horwich a bit more. There were some promising signs and some good passages of play, but the home side were unable to get a goal back in the early stages. The first of a five goal second half would go to Horwich.
For the most part the highline had cut the service off to the Horwich forwards, but a few times the one they call Geordie showed why he doesn’t need many chances. A quick Horwich 16 got them coming down Rochdale’s left. Geordie got the ball deep in the corner, around the 23m line and carried it towards the circle. He pushed into the D, then pulled the ball back and struck it firmly towards the back post for a tap in.
It wasn’t going to be quite so one sided in the second half though. The returning South African powerhouse Bjorn Brauns got the ball wide on the left, showed some silky skills before hammering the ball goalwards, with midfield engine Kane Morgan on hand to deflect into the roof of the net past a hapless goalkeeper.
A second Rochdale goal would be added not long after, due to some could link up play between captain Adam Massey and midfield maestro Manny Ahmed. A good breakthrough on the right from Massey allowed him to play the ball back to the top of the circle to Ahmed, who skinned three players and slotted it home in his own inimitable style.
There wasn’t much hope for a comeback and any wild thoughts of one were soon put to bed, as Horwich got back in gear and scored another two. The first was another breakdown in communication, as someone was left marking two men at the top of the D, which resulted in gaps opening up inside the D, as the defence tried to readjust. Horwich knew their jobs well, got the ball in front of the goal and found a forward to put it in. The final goal of the game was a brilliant piece of solo skill from Geordie for Horwich. He got the ball on the 23m line ran around the defender, into the D and though very wide, he struck it well and the ball went in off the post into the top corner. Final score 7–2 to Horwich.
It was a tough one today and it’s the first game this season when we have been outplayed by better opposition. They pressed us high, caused chaos in our defence and showed us what a promotion team looks like in this division. We did show some good spirit and got a couple of consolation goals, but we need to look at today as having our areas for improvement highlighted and how much better we can be in future. It is important to remember after games like these that, champions maybe be remembered for their success and glory, but it is being able to handle defeat well that makes teams successful. If we only ride a crest of the wave then ultimately, we will be nothing more than a wave breaking on the beach. Learn to roll with the tides, deal with both the peaks and the troughs and treat those two imposters just the same and we may yet get to be a mighty sea.
Man of the match Graham Broadley. Honourable mention Daniel MacDonald for having the raw minerals to stop a 60mph drag flick with his kneecap, with the final whistle gone and the score at 7–2 down, exemplifying the fighting spirit we need to keep carrying forward.