Cleckheaton 19 - 22 Rochdale

The fat lady has not quite finished singing but her tones are hardly audible.This latest defeat at Moorend was a savage blow to the hopes and aspirations of all,that a return to North 2 for the first time since season 2001-2 could be avoided.
In the end this was a performance typical of so many by Cleckheaton.Phases of dominance,good individual skills but without that cutting edge,discipline or consistency.
Dominic Castle was still absent from the starting line up so Matt Piper continued to deputise allowing Owen Edwards to partner Peter Murphy in the middle of the field.Rochdale arrived with diminutive playmaker Steve Collins the key to their great desire to retain North One status for a second season,and it was he who opened the scoring in the 4th minute when he kicked his first penalty.Iain Gordon replied for Cleckheaton but the Rochdale marksman converted his second penalty in the 10th minute.
The home side looked in determined mood but Rochdale were matching their efforts with a hard foraging back row and tall lineout men particularly prominent.Cleck had a chance in the 28th minute when Owen Edwards broke from defence down the stand side,gave an inside pass to Joe Massarella who unfortunately dropped the ball with the line at his mercy.However,Cleckheaton continued regular forays into Rochdale territory,despite playing against the strong breeze and in the 30th minute a rolling maul was well controlled,Pete Murphy broke through and Ross Hayden dived over for an excellent try which Iain Gordon converted.Collins soon reduced the lead to a point three minutes later and shortly afterwards the visitors regained the lead when Cleck carelessly lost possession in midfield and centre Van Zyl sprinted clear for a try to which Collins added the extras.
The second half started promisingly for Cleckheaton with two Iain Gordon penalties within the first seven minutes of the half.Unfortunately team discipline appeared to disintegrate and in the space of fifteen minutes three yellow cards were awarded against them.In the meantime Iain Gordon,before he became the second yellow card statistic,and Steve Collins swapped penalties to tie the scores at 19-19.The tension was acute within a sizeable crowd with a large contingent from Rochdale and Cleck were piling on the pressure despite their numerical disadvantage.In the 75th minute another chance to go over in the corner was missed when the wrong option was taken, and inevitably that man Steve Collins made Cleck pay for their profligacy when he dropped the winning goal with two minutes to go.
Overall a good match to watch for the neutral.Unfortunately there were few of those and the Cleckheaton supporters were left to contemplate what could have been as they have on regular occasions this season.