Rochdale Town v AFC Liverpool, 8th August 2009


When I look back at opening games of the season following AFC Liverpool, one match I often look back fondly is going to the now defunct Rochdale Town, and winning 5-0 at the start of the 2009/10 season. That would partly be because I could not make the first ever game twelve months earlier at home to Darwen. Having missed out on promotion in the inaugural season, I was hopeful that the previous season's disappointment could be a blessing in disguise.

Despite starting well enough, we could have found ourselves a goal down as Anthony Whitehouse shook off Phil Stafford to shoot past Paul Willis, only for captain dependable Liam Coyne to get back and clear off the line. When we did take the lead through David Ojapah on 38 minutes, it had been on the cards. He beat the offside trap to play the ball past stranded Rochdale keeper Mark Canning, who ran out of his goal, and slot into the net with a defender trying desperately to get to the line. Ojapah himself should have already been on the scoresheet, having been earlier denied by Canning, again after beating the offside trap. 

Andy McCoy missed a penalty at the start of the second half, after Ryan Wignall had been brought down. The miss was not to mark a turning point though, as the Reds went on the rampage. Firstly, that man Ojapah latched onto a through ball by McCoy to make it 2-0 on 58 minutes. A Liam Coyne volley from the edge of the area made it three on 65 minutes, and Ryan Wignall added a fourth from close range on 76 minutes. Ojapah completed his hat-trick with five minutes to spare after good link up play with substitute Dean Thurston, who himself had been unlucky a few minutes previous when he was denied by Canning.

Mark Canning had made a number of saves throughout the afternoon, suggesting that a 5-0 win was an unfair scoreline on the Reds. What a gorgeous day it was though on the weather front, and what a way to start the season. It certainly gave me a buzz.

I was impressed with the new signing Tod Bamber, who put in a good workmanlike performance, and was left convinced that David Ojapah had the makings of being a great player at our level of football. I was equally convinced that a glorious league season lay in front of us. I didn't immediately read too much into the suggestion that maybe Rochdale were one of the league's poorer sides that year.

My thoughts on both Ojapah and the league campaign did not bear fruit sadly; we even lost the return match against Rochdale later that season. However, I still look back fondly on that gorgeous August day.

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