Roach Dynamos under 7s Orange took on Middleton Lads and due to weather were forced to play on Astroturf, with surrounding pitches all flooded. Roach started brightly with Tom Rigby making progress through the heart of the Middleton defence and would have scored a great solo goal if it wasn’t for a last ditch tackle by the defender.
5 minutes into the game and Middleton finally had an attack, their first attempt on goal brought the first goal of the game as the defence was unable to cope with a skillful Middleton forward who shot from distance managed to beat Joe Parkinson who almost managed to push the ball onto the crossbar.
Roach then tried attacking again but with Middleton dangerous on the counter, Lewis Turnton and Harvey Sidebotham, both playing in defence, had there work cut out for them.
Roach did look dangerous when using the width of the pitch, especially when Aaron Cox, Tom Rigby and Jack Delnon got on the ball. All three with pace to burn accumulated with Aaron Cox running past a couple of players and an attempted cross in the box to Jack Delnon managed to catch the keeper off guard and the ball squirmed under him.
Midway through the first half Middleton began turning the screw and began attacking at ease which turned in to a goal from a lapse in concentration. 2 – 1 Middleton.
With a few decisions going against Roach, Middleton was awarded a corner and they managed to get to the ball before Joseph Williams, to nick a goal at the front post. 3 -1 Middleton.
The second half was similar to the first with Roach attacking constantly and Middleton chancing there luck on the counter attack. Roach had to go for broke and eventually got caught on the break after the impressive Frankie Griffiths was pushed to the floor, the ref not giving a free kick and Middleton scored again. 4 – 1. This proved to be the killer goal as some of the young Roach heads went down and Middleton scored 2 more goals on the counter. Final score 6 – 1 Middleton but Roach can set the record straight almost immediately with the return fixture next week at Heywood Community School.
An impressive Roach display saw them, overcome by the counter attacking Middleton who seemed to use the same tactic every time they attacked with 1 Middleton player scoring 4 goals.
