Match Report: Bamford H&H – Turks Head (Rochdale Online League Cup)

Well the winning streak had to end sooner or later, and being beaten by the odd goal in three by a Premier Division side to go out of the cup at the quarter final stage is not exactly the worst way for the run to end.

The first half was tight and, although we hit the post early on, there weren’t really many clear-cut chances for either side. Although it’s worth pointing out that MC pulled off a cracking, if unorthodox, save at the end of the half that has probably left him with very sore knackers this morning.

Bamford took the lead early on in the second half with a good finish from a tight angle, only for Lyonsy to equalise with a great strike into the top corner almost straight from the kick-off. But another good finish from their nippy centre forward put them back in front, and this time it was enough for them to hold on to, despite a bit of late pressure from Turks that really only led to a couple of long range efforts.

Definitely not one of out better performances of recent weeks, things just never seemed to get going, due mainly to the opposition getting about us quickly when we had the ball and then doing a good job of holding onto the ball when they had possession. The good thing is I think we all learned something from this defeat, more so than any other time we’ve lost this season.

Team: Curran, M. Jones, Mannion, A. Jones, Hall, Lyons, Nuttall, Almond, Orchard, Wood, Perks (Lang-Whiston)

Subs: Emmott, Hardisty

Goals: Lyons

Build up to Sunday & Tuesday

The mighty Turks Head FC play Bamford H&H this coming Sunday in the Rochdale Online cup. Then just 2 days later we play Copperpot Reserves in what promises to be a game of MAMMOTH significance. So let’s hear your rallying calls, your war cries and your drive-thru orders to spur the boys on in the next few days.

For the latest up-to-date info on fixtures and results, go here

Match Report: Wardleworth – Turks Head (League)

Another great win and a quality, battling performance to beat Wardleworth, who we now leapfrog into 3rd position.

Our 9th consecutive win (EASILY a Turks Head record, according to Mr. Chairman) has put us in with a great chance of overtaking FC Dale and getting promoted as runners-up. In fact, we can even afford to draw a match and still finish above them. If we lose one, and win the remaining three, we will finish level on points – but I’m not sure if it goes to goal difference or a play-off at that point. Regardless, we are definitely aiming to win all our remaining fixtures now!

Back to the game though. A decent performance from the defence to secure yet another clean sheet, and hard work and good forward play by the front men.

But special mention must surely go to the midfield who showed excellent commitment and workrate – led by an absolutely colossal Nutgreaves -especially in the face of some brutal tackling (fouling) that led to a booking, a straight red and what would have easily been another straight red had only the ref seen it.

We definitely, and perhaps understandbly, started out a bit nervous and Wardleworth were playing some good stuff early on, but after we settled we always looked the more dangerous side and were never really in threat of conceding. But it still took an absolute corker of an effort from Si to break the deadlock and it remained tight until Easty curled a free kick that the ref decided crossed the line before the keeper scooped it out of the net. Just to make sure, Sparky scraped the rebound in anyway.

I know Gooders has video clips of the two goals, so hopefully they’ll get posted on here shortly. 

Time to turn our attention to the quarter finals of the Rochdale Online League Cup, where we meet Premier Division side Bamford this weekend.

Team: Seymour, Hall (Mannion), M. Jones, A. Jones, Orchard, Wood, Almond, Nuttall, Lyons, Perks, Eastwood

Subs: Curran, Hardisty, Emmott, Day

Goals: Orchard, Eastwood

Match Report: Turks Head – Whitworth Valley (Rochdale Online League Cup)

The end of season fixture congestion doesn’t look set to be alleviated any time soon as our eighth consecutive win has put us through to the quarter finals of the Rochdale Online League Cup.

After a couple of weeks without a game, we seemed to spend most of the first half dusting off a few cobwebs, but we definitely improved after falling behind and I don’t think anybody thought we deserved to be 1-0 down at half-time.

Eastwood (who successfully shook off his ‘air shot’ tag this week) might have had a hat-trick in the first half but for some woeful finishing, but the award for worst performance of the half surely goes to their linesman, who seemed to flag just about every time we got the ball in their half. Kudos to the ref for having a word with him and having the sense to ignore most of his outrageous flagging. In fact, credit to the ref for having a tremendous game full-stop, I reckon that might just have been the best refereeing performance we’ve had this season.

Much better second half all-round though. Easty bagged the first Turks Head hat-trick of the season, though Woody wasn’t far behind him in scoring three (although other reports say he only got two and a half), and Ste Ormrod finally proved that he can score with his feet – just as long as he’s 40 yards out and the keeper is nowhere to be found!

Coming back from 1-0 down to 7-1 up was a pretty remarkable achievement, but I don’t think anybody thought that the game was dead and buried at that point. Indeed, if it wasn’t for Seymour’s lengthy pins performing heroics to keep out a late penalty, Whitworth could have been right back in it. Although I think the lad who took the penalty made it easy on Seymour by deciding to spot the ball in a three-inch deep ditch. Genius!

Fortunately, we managed to grab an all-important eighth goal to really kill the match off and clinch a quarter-final berth against Premier Division Bamford H&H.

I think that just about covers everything….

Team: Seymour, M. Jones, Orchard (Lyons), Mannion, A. Jones, Almond, Hall, Nuttall (Hulme), Wood, Eastwood, Perks (Ormrod) Subs: Hardisty, Emmott, Day.

Goals: Eastwood (3), Wood (3), Ormrod, M. Jones

Marvellous Result!

If I’ve heard correctly, the Turks Head bagged 8 goals on Sunday and only let 1 in at the other end? Have I heard that correctly?

Fixture Info

Our fixture info has been updated on the Rochdale Online website.

We play Whitworth Valley three times in the next eight days and also have a couple of tough league games against Wardleworth and Copperpot Res.

You can link over to all our fixture info from the FIXTURES page on this site.

Lionel Messi, take a bow

Check out the goal Messi scored against Getafe this week…

How does it compare to Maradona’s vs England in ‘86?

Important Training Info

Ok lads, we have some training details sorted out so pay attention.

Thursday, April 19th (tomorrow) – we have the OUTSIDE pitch at Soccer Village booked from 7:00-8:00pm.

Thursday, May 10th onwards – we have a regular slot booked at Soccer Village from 8:00 – 9:00pm.

Other than the dates and times, there are two important things to note:

1) The cost will be £3 per head, as usual.

2) At this time, only registered players are invited. This is because we need to avoid the situation that happened earlier in the season where some lads were only getting 10-15 minutes total playing time.

Please leave a comment indicating if you will be there tomorrow night so we can gauge a rough idea of numbers.

We all owe The Thinking Man’s Number 8 a big thanks for sorting this out. Good job Sparky!

El Capitano in the Dock!

Looks like Lammy’s red card has finally caught up with him, and boy are the league going to town with the punishments. Check out this legal notice I came across:

Court 8 - sitting at 10:00 am HIS HONOUR JUDGE ATHERTON
For Mention (Defendant to Attend)
T20077012 WILSON Jason K WILSON Keith
PRE TRIAL ISSUES T20067663 O’LOUGHLIN Patrick J
PRE TRIAL ISSUES SITTING AT 10:30 AM
For Trial T20060650 ALMOND Christopher

No Match on Thursday

Just to let you know that we DO NOT have a game on Thursday – unfortunately the opposition couldn’t agree to a match on such short notice.

We do have a cup game on Sunday though, and Sparky is still trying to book Soccer Village for an hour on Thursday for those who fancy it.