A lovely evening for a football match, a trifle cold perhaps but it was fine and on an excellent pitch we expected to see a good match in the F.A.Youth Cup against opposition from across the Pennines, Rochdale. We actually met them last year, at Belle Vue, at the same stage of this Competition and came away winners by 2goals to nil. It wasn't until the 79th minute that the Rovers broke the deadlock with a 'wonder' goal by Mattie Noble from 45 yards. Actually it was a free kick that sailed into the Rochdale penalty area, but the keeper, who had had a terrific game to that point, misjudged the flight of the ball, which carried on into the net and gave the Rovers the impetus they needed to add another goal from Fairhurst and wrap the game up. The Rovers defended the South Stand end in the first half.

The Rovers set the game in motion and went straight on to the attack, with Lodge having first strike on goal but Hanford, in the Rochdale goal, saved comfortably. Rochdale got going and, on 6 minutes, Bowyer picked up a Rovers clearance out of defence and hit a sweet drive from 25 yards but Cherry handled easily.  The Rovers then had a turn, with a Henderson shot from distance not troubling the keeper unduly. However, on 10 minutes, LODGE received the ball, took it into the penalty area to the right of goal, turned inside his marker and hammered in a shot off the inside of the far post to give the home team the early lead. The 'Dale hit back and Ellis on the right chased down a long ball but Cherry was out quickly to tackle and foil him. Back came the Rovers and on 14 minutes, Lodge, running through on goal, was hauled down in the penalty area. The linesman indicated a penalty, the referee waved play on. But LODGE was not to be denied for long. Two minutes later, he took the ball down the inside right channel, turned back and inside Bowyer before drilling a left foot shot low through a forest of legs and past an unsighted keeper into the far bottom corner of the net. Rochdale tried hard to get more into the game and won their first corner after 20 minutes. Minutes later and Wharton, under pressure by Boyce got a header in following a cross from the right by Ellis but it sailed over the bar. The match now settled into a more even contest, with Rochdale working hard to claw themselves back into the game. Otis Williams, on their left, was particularly lively. As the break loomed up the Rovers nearly added to their score when Boyce had a header to a corner that skimmed the top of the Rochdale bar. Rochdale, from a free kick on their left touchline by Otis Williams, saw Wharton head over the bar. The interval came with the Rovers going in holding a two goal lead.

Rochdale came out and spent the early minutes of the second half putting the Rovers defence under pressure. However, after 49 minutes, Rochdale were caught out when a quickly taken free kick from halfway into the Rovers half was latched on to by LODGE, who outpaced the visiting defenders to rifle into the net from an angle on the right and put the Rovers three up and also to register a hat-trick for himself. The next minute it was the Rovers turn to be nearly caught out when a quick counter attack by the visitors had the defence struggling. Wharton won the ball in the Rovers six yards box and pushed the ball wide to Ellis, who could only stab wide. Continuing on the attack, Brown, for Rochdale, picked the ball up in midfield, ran at the Rovers defence but had his shot saved by Cherry. The visitors were having much more of the play as the halfway mark came up and Wharton was only foiled from having a clean strike on goal by a last ditch tackle from Boyce that gave Rochdale a corner. Nothing came from this one but on 77 minutes a corner on the Rochdale left was headed down and in by EVANS to reduce the deficit. The 'Dale continued to batter away at the Rovers defence but couldn't breach their line again. The final whistle went on a good win for the Rovers in front of 161 spectators, who saw them progress to the Second Round.

Teams - ROVERS - Ross Cherry; Andrew Hawksworth, Andrew Boyce, Luke Duffy, Danny Bowland; Robert Hall, Robert Clark, Tom Griffiths, Alex Henderson; Jason Hardy, Jordan Lodge.

Subs used - Charles Fisher for Clark 76 mins; Craig Fletcher for Lodge 90 mins; Tino Shielis for Henderson 90 mins;

Subs not used - Ross Adamson, Scott Bibby,

Rochdale - Danny Hanford; Kyle Lambert, Matty Hughes, Ralph Evans, George Bowyer; Matty Ellis, Andy Brown, Reece Kelly, Otis Williams; Ben Wharton, Simon Williams,

Subs used - Callum Byrne for Otis Williams 57 mins; Danny Anderson for Ellis 73 mins; David Collins for Hughes 84 mins;

Subs not used - Chris Brown