The ground a little heavy and the pitch cutting up once the game was under way this encounter at second place Morley was going to be tough. Rochdale started well enough and very little advantage was gained by either side in the first 15 minutes. The official seemed ready to allow the game to flow and the makeshift backline held their own against a very well drilled opposition. Captain Bradwell, Gaz Adams and Tom Helliwell all putting in their share of tackles.
The Morley outfit, which were unexpectedly, heavily beaten the previous week, were out to make amends and cement their place in the top two. They searched for an opening score. This came courtesy of their pacey left wing with the extras added they took a seven nil lead. From the restart the ‘Dale forwards lost the ball and after a series of phases and quick ball recycling from Morley they that had soon increased their lead to 14-0 and Rochdale looked to be in for a torrid afternoon.

After that short spell the Rochdale team put together some periods of possession and Rob Blackburn, Varnie Van Zyl and John Mair combined down the right hand side to score out wide, the conversion was added by Steve Collins. The score at that time reflecting the hard work being put in by Will Birtwell, Dominic Greenhalgh and Neil Sunderland up front with Sunderland putting in some very good front running.

A slippery ball didn’t help the ‘Dale cause when fumbled on the edge of the twenty two metre line. From the ensuing scrum the Morley backs got the ball wide quickly and scored out wide; the kicker providing the extra two points. With the score now at 21-7 the Dale dug in again, tackles came thick and fast and Greg Wellins at fullback was coping well with the amount of work he had. A penalty for Rochdale in front of the posts just before half-time for offside, gave Steve Collins the opportunity to reduce the deficit this he duly did and the side went in at 21-10.

A change up front saw Aidy Redmon come on for first team newcomer Birtwell but the Morley outfit still had the edge in the pack. Rochdale still managed to get their own ball at the lineouts with a combination of good throwing in from Greenhalgh the height of David Healey and a sometimes wavy eye of the official, this enabled ‘ Dale to at least entertain some possession.
The Morley side kept coming at Rochdale and secured two further very well taken tries, and with the scores on 33-10 the Rochdale coach Mick Gould swapped scrumhalf’s with Rob Neave coming on for Daz James. Neave injected a little extra pace and guile and with his efforts Rochdale managed to engineer a period of pressure on the Morley defence. The pressure mounted and a well deserved try by Jimmy Filtcroft with the extras once again added by Collins the Rochdale outfit maintained a score of 33-17 for the majority of the second half.

The Rochdale pack worked tirelessly with Healey and another newcomer Andy Foster being supported with crunching tackles by Adams and Helliwell to keep the Morley forwards at bay.  The ‘Dale talisman Steve Collins tried all his tricks to enable another score and another crossfield kick collected by Jimmy Flitcroft went very close.

Morley scored a breakaway try against the run of play to run out 40-17 winners. Rochdale coach Mick Gould using the players available to him managed to get them to put plenty of hard work and endeavour into their game and certainly all who played gave their all. Team spirit reigned as the players knew no-one had let anyone else down.

League Table after games played on 27/02/10

National League 3 North