Rossendale Ams ‘B’ 4-1 Hesketh Casuals ‘B’

Rossendale away has always proven to be the toughest fixture in Casuals’ fixture list, and it proved to be no different when they travelled to the hills on Saturday. It is hard enough playing the league’s arguably strongest team with a full squad but having to play with a bare eleven made it even harder. Thankfully the away side were able to rely on Alex “Dinky” MacGregor, who returned from a two year injury absence and has recently overcome his traumatic incarceration in a police cell, to occupy the single substitute spot. The pitch was frankly awful, as were the conditions, but this should not have deterred Casuals, although the visitors usually struggle on crap pitches.

As the game got underway it was clear the two teams were evenly matched with the first ten minutes being extremely tight. Rossendale came close to opening the scoring but Paul Hames tipped the ball wide for a corner. Casuals could have broke the deadlock when Derek Sykes, who had a superb game, was manhandled to the ground and the ref duly awarded a penalty. Baz Fellowes confidently strode over to tether the ball and place it on the spot. Unfortunately his confidence was not replicated in the resulting shot as his spot kick would have been comfortably saved by David Blunkett. The striker has broad shoulders, however, and he clearly did not let it get to him.

Rossendale took the lead from a left wing cross which evaded everybody and found the head on their unmarked midfield man who glanced it into the corner. Minutes later an accidental collision with keeper Paul Hames and Ian Langton left the keeper injured, which may have explained why he failed to move for the second goal. The Rossendale winger had, a few minutes earlier, had made an apparent self-nomination for “Complete N*bhead of the Year” when he took out the keeper who was already feeling fragile.

The visitors went into the break feeling confident they could still get something out of the game after Dave Walker had forced an opening earlier on. Rossendale also knew they were in a game and were clearly keen to put the game to bed. Casuals started brightly and the game remained 2-0 until 20 minutes to go when a lovely move saw their striker convert a low shot into the corner. The away side could have crumbled and “done a Besiktas” but they showed pride in playing for their beloved Casuals and dug in deep despite injuries to Dave Walker and Steve Aspin, the former having to come off with a thigh injury. Alex MacGregor came on and, despite wearing a cap on the pitch, illustrated that he belonged on a football pitch as he played like he had never been away. He and co-defender Neil MacGregor played in a braveheart-like fashion to keep Rossendale at bay.

Steve Aspin continued to play well in midfield, as did Justin Parr who still managed to dribble round defenders despite being 6 inches deep in mud. Rossendale did kill the game off with a fourth before Casuals restored some respectability when Steve Aspin’s long range shot bamboozled their keeper and nestled in the far corner for a deserved consolation. Rossendale still found time to be awarded their mandatory penalty but their striker’s effort was arguably worse than Baz’s in the first half.

Despite the score-line the Cassies manager was immensely proud of the twelve who dug in and fought for the cause and they were unlucky to be on the receiving end of a full strength Rossendale side. The result sees Cassies slip to 5th but a home match against lowly Thornleigh next week should see them regain their winning habit…wonder how many we’ll have for that!

Man of the match: Steve Aspin