Answering an S.O.S from our friends at Rochdale, whose original opponents had to pull out most inconveniently, AFC Halifax made the short trip on Saturday morning (meeting at the ungodly hour of 8.00am for a 10.30ish kick-off) to try and avenge an earlier season 7-2 hammering. That heavy reversal was an IFA League fixture - thankfully this one wasn't. Nevertheless, the squad had a meaty look about it, and manager John Barker, whilst not necessarily expecting the win, was insistent on an improved performance. That he got it goes without saying. The lads rolled their sleeves up, even after going two goals down within five minutes, but the result was disappointing. It was a tad cruel, for trailing by the odd goal at half-time, AFC had the lion's share of possession and chances until Rochdale popped up with a soft fourth twenty minutes from time. With that went AFC's hopes of putting one over their Lancashire rivals, who remain unbeaten.
Hoping for a solid start, AFC sadly didn't get it. They conceded three corners within the first three minutes and from the last of these, 'Dale took the lead. An unmarked Daler glided a header downwards with no real conviction, but enough to surprise keeper Chris Wigglesworth, who allowed the ball to slip between his legs like soap in the shower. A disastrous start and worse was to follow. Only two minutes further, a raid down the left saw the Dale winger cut inside and float a pristine cross (or was it a lucky one?) over the head of Wiggy and into the net at the far post. 2-0 down, and only five minutes played.
What was to come next? An AFC fight back, that's what, with Scott Varley prompting it within four minutes. Receiving the ball on the right, he slipped his full-back with a nod and a wink, made his move into the box then crashed an unstoppable shot past the keeper, who, for once was speechless. And where Rochdale had scored two in as many minutes, so AFC proved they were capable of the same. Ashley Addy, who performed stoically at right full-back before eventually having to retire before the interval, sent over the pass of the game, from right to left, over the Dale defence, inviting Andy Hemblys to finish it off, which he did in style with a neat lob over the keeper.
Ash, in fact, had suffered the injury that done him as early as the second minute, landing awkwardly after a crude challenge from a midfield Daler. He played on, not only setting up Hemblys for his goal, but also denying the Dale when a goal looked likely, forcing the ball onto the underside of the bar before Johnny Meynell aided and abetted in hooking clear.
Rochdale began arguing, suggesting they were being rattled by AFC but just at the moment when it looked as if AFC had found their niche, Rochdale restored their lead with a left wing move. Wiggy was exposed and when the ball was transferred across, the nippy Daler side footed into an empty net. A suspicion of offside, but the ref wasn't to be argued with - he'd told us that himself.
3-2 down at half-time AFC still felt they could turn it round in the second half. Yet they should have been further behind within a minute of the restart. When the Dale took a left-wing throw in, the ball found a completely unmarked player, who had time to pick his spot. Not sure whether Wiggy had sized up the situation, but as the shot came in, Wiggy flung himself in mid-air, made some sort of contact and pushed the ball onto the bar, where the rebound was eventually smothered. An amazing let off, but one that AFC quickly put behind them as they went on to dominate the proceedings for the next fifteen or so minutes. And how close they came to an equaliser. None more so than Martin Bishop, who, following a corner, let fly through a crowded box, only to see his shot hit the inside of the post before being hacked away. Hembers had a chance which he put over, and Meynell and young Ben Fawkes also had shots saved by the keeper. Then Rochdale made it 4-2, with an avoidable goal as you wouldn't wish to see. John Barker's miskicked dead ball kick immediately had AFC back-tracking, and a free-kick was conceded to the left of the box. When it came over, both Barker and Wiggy perhaps could have dealt with it, but in the event, the ball trickled over the line off a Rochdale player.
With Rochdale's record this season it was always going to be a mammoth task for AFC to save the game, and this became almost impossibility once Dale had scored a fifth, a sublime chip over Wiggy after the Dale midfielder, who had knobbed Ash so early on, had ridden three challenges on the edge of the penalty area.
Five became six with a move down the left that was finished off calmly with Wiggy coming out to narrow the angle, and that was the scoring ended, although Matt Blackburn almost caused consternations in the Dale defence with a mazy run from right-back before being chopped down. Almost like Gazza in his prime?.sorry, priory.
Another heavy defeat, then, at the hands of Rochdale, but one feels that their D-Day is not too far in the distance. Memorable performances for AFC came from Ben Roper, down an unaccustomed left-flank, causing no end of bother, especially in the first half, and Ashley Addy before his retirement. Terry 'I'm not wearing gloves today because they haven't got eleven fingers in 'em' Sunderland put in another composed display at left-back. Scott Varley impressed in the first half and scored a cracking close-range 25 yarder, but MOM has to go to centre-back Lee Casalino, who sniffed out so much danger throughout the game.
Cas' performance was almost as faultless as that of the referee. Not much praise is meted out to refs these days (unless it's Cas' dad), but special mention has to be made of this one (called John, who knew me as Johnny, John Barker as John, Lee Casalino as Cas, and Stewart Heaton as Bob(bins) despite never having seen any of us before). He refereed the game to the letter, but fairly, and left us in no doubt that he was in charge, yet always on hand for a bit of banter. Top performance.
Team; Wigglesworth, Addy, Barker, Casalino, Sunderland; Varley, Meynell, Bishop, Roper; Heaton, Hemblys. Subs; Whitehead, Fawkes, Blackburn.

Johnny Meynell