Date: Saturday 28th March 2009
Competition: Unibond League First Division North
Venue: Nissan Chorley Victory Park, Chorley, Lancashire
Attendance: 284Ticket In: £7.00
Chorley, proper Lancashire lad! Located slap bang in the middle of God’s real county, it’s an iconic Lancashire market town. Visited this afternoon by another Lancashire side in Rossendale United, making this afternoons match a proper battle of the county. Although the weather is distinctly un-Lancastrian with cool temperatures and cloud cover with the threat of a rain shower ever hanging in the air, the winds must be coming in from the Manchester direction. The town of Chorley, somewhat unsurprisingly known as the home of Chorley cake, made its name from cotton during its industrial days, the chimney by the towns Morrisons supermarket serves as a testimony to the many demolished mills that used to dominate the skyline. In footballing terms this season both Chorley and Rossendale find themselves in the bottom half of the table, but with Salford City looking more than a little bit doomed at the bottom of the league in the only relegation spot, both should be safe from the dreaded drop. So hopes for a good game this afternoon are high, especially with county bragging rights at stake. Chorley’s home ground of the Chorley Nissan Victory Park Stadium (try saying that three times fast after two pints of lager) as a stadium at this level of football is an excellent facility. A large seating stand adorns one side of the pitch whilst covered standing is provided behind both goals, this is sure to develop some atmosphere with one or two raucous fans underneath it. 
The condition of the pitch looks ok, not brilliant but ok, should be fine for a passing game.
So the teams exited the dressing rooms and made their way onto the pitch, Chorley in their home colours of Newcastle United like black and white stripes with black shorts, and Rossendale United in their home colours of all red. The referee and captains complete the pre-match necessities with Chorley deciding to switch end to have the strong wind advantage in the first half, allowing Rossendale United to get the match underway. The first score of the game wasn’t long in coming as in the 14th minute and after a poor start from the home side, Rossendale took the lead. A throw in from the right wing was crossed to the back of the penalty area by John Turner and was picked up by Danny Ellis, his low cross into the box was turned home from close range by Zach Clark and Rossendale had the lead. Chorley almost equalised in the 20th minute when some patient and intricate build up play saw the ball crossed into the penalty area where Rossendale keeper Ben Proctor could only palm the ball back into the penalty area before the defence mopped up the spills. But Chorley would draw the match level three minutes later in a well worked move that saw a through ball take a deflection off a Rossendale defender before leaving a Chorley forward 1-on-1 with the keeper.
But his ball into the penalty area beat the keeper from the angle and allowed Chris Ward to tap the ball into the open net to restore parity to the scoreline. Chorley had now come alive after a slow start and were now putting pressure on the Rossendale defence, looking the team that was far more likely to score. Although in the 32nd minute they had keeper Peter Collinge to thank for keeping the scoreline level as he made a smart low save at his near post from Zach Clark. But Collinge was to be beaten in the 37th minute when Rossendale United were awarded a penalty after a Chorley defender handled in the penalty area and the referee awarded a spot kick. Danny Ellis stepped up to take the kick and sent the keeper the wrong way to restore the visitors lead. Chorley had a chance to restore parity in the 43rd minute when they won themselves a corner, taken short and crossed into the penalty area, Gavin Lee Ellison just diverted the ball the wrong side of the post with his header and the chance passed. In an end-to-end finish to the half, Chorley had their keeper to thank once again as he pulled off a blinding one handed close range save from Phil Eastwood, before they went down the other end and won themselves a corner. The delivery of which was met by a bullet header from Chorley’s Chris Smalley but it went just the wrong side of the post and the half would end not long afterwards. 
It hadn’t been the best half of football I had ever witnessed, but it had been far from the worst. Chorley’s choice to play with the wind in the first half now doesn’t look too inspired of a decision as they enter the halftime break trailing and Rossendale will have the wind behind them in the 2nd half. The half had featured some great midfield battles and sound tacking with still all to play for in the 2nd half.
Half Time:
Chorley 1 – 2 Rossendale United
Chorley almost levelled the match early on in the 2nd half when a thunderous dipping volley from 35 yards out had Proctor in the Rossendale goal worried as he scrambled back to tip the ball over the crossbar to concede a corner, the delivery of said corner was cleared by the Rossendale defender at the front post. The Rossendale defence was under pressure once again on the hour mark when a cross into the box wasn’t properly dealt with and the ball had to be headed over the crossbar from off the defenders own goal line.
The corner Chorley were awarded from this would lead to them levelling the game. Rossendale couldn’t get the ball away and it fell to the feet of Adam Farrell who thundered a volley across the goal and into the corner of the net. Two all and game on once again. The match would take a hostile edge in the 72nd minute when the Chorley players and fans would become increasingly frustrated with the referee over decisions they perceived to be going against them. But Chorley would have the last word on the match as in the 90th minute they stole the winning goal when a long ball down field was latched onto by Chorley’s Steve Burke and he squared it in front of goal. The Rossendale defence was nowhere to be seen as Adam Farrell stormed in and blasted the ball into the roof of the net to give the keeper no chance and put Chorley into the lead for the first time in the match with only seconds remaining on the clock. The terraces were a sight to behold as they Chorley fans had a party behind the goal. 
The full time whistle wasn’t long in following and Chorley had robbed a victory from the jaws of defeat.
Well what an ending that was for the home supporters, but you have to feel a little for Rossendale who will be devasted not to have come away with at least a point after twice leading the contest. A draw would more than likely have been a fair result as neither side was really better than the other on the whole, yet both dominated the other in spells of the match. On the whole it was a match that was worth its entrance money, but nothing more than that. Congratulations to Chorley!
Full Time:
Chorley 3 – 2 Rossendale United
The condition of the pitch looks ok, not brilliant but ok, should be fine for a passing game.So the teams exited the dressing rooms and made their way onto the pitch, Chorley in their home colours of Newcastle United like black and white stripes with black shorts, and Rossendale United in their home colours of all red. The referee and captains complete the pre-match necessities with Chorley deciding to switch end to have the strong wind advantage in the first half, allowing Rossendale United to get the match underway. The first score of the game wasn’t long in coming as in the 14th minute and after a poor start from the home side, Rossendale took the lead. A throw in from the right wing was crossed to the back of the penalty area by John Turner and was picked up by Danny Ellis, his low cross into the box was turned home from close range by Zach Clark and Rossendale had the lead. Chorley almost equalised in the 20th minute when some patient and intricate build up play saw the ball crossed into the penalty area where Rossendale keeper Ben Proctor could only palm the ball back into the penalty area before the defence mopped up the spills. But Chorley would draw the match level three minutes later in a well worked move that saw a through ball take a deflection off a Rossendale defender before leaving a Chorley forward 1-on-1 with the keeper.
But his ball into the penalty area beat the keeper from the angle and allowed Chris Ward to tap the ball into the open net to restore parity to the scoreline. Chorley had now come alive after a slow start and were now putting pressure on the Rossendale defence, looking the team that was far more likely to score. Although in the 32nd minute they had keeper Peter Collinge to thank for keeping the scoreline level as he made a smart low save at his near post from Zach Clark. But Collinge was to be beaten in the 37th minute when Rossendale United were awarded a penalty after a Chorley defender handled in the penalty area and the referee awarded a spot kick. Danny Ellis stepped up to take the kick and sent the keeper the wrong way to restore the visitors lead. Chorley had a chance to restore parity in the 43rd minute when they won themselves a corner, taken short and crossed into the penalty area, Gavin Lee Ellison just diverted the ball the wrong side of the post with his header and the chance passed. In an end-to-end finish to the half, Chorley had their keeper to thank once again as he pulled off a blinding one handed close range save from Phil Eastwood, before they went down the other end and won themselves a corner. The delivery of which was met by a bullet header from Chorley’s Chris Smalley but it went just the wrong side of the post and the half would end not long afterwards. It hadn’t been the best half of football I had ever witnessed, but it had been far from the worst. Chorley’s choice to play with the wind in the first half now doesn’t look too inspired of a decision as they enter the halftime break trailing and Rossendale will have the wind behind them in the 2nd half. The half had featured some great midfield battles and sound tacking with still all to play for in the 2nd half.Half Time:
Chorley 1 – 2 Rossendale United
Chorley almost levelled the match early on in the 2nd half when a thunderous dipping volley from 35 yards out had Proctor in the Rossendale goal worried as he scrambled back to tip the ball over the crossbar to concede a corner, the delivery of said corner was cleared by the Rossendale defender at the front post. The Rossendale defence was under pressure once again on the hour mark when a cross into the box wasn’t properly dealt with and the ball had to be headed over the crossbar from off the defenders own goal line.
The corner Chorley were awarded from this would lead to them levelling the game. Rossendale couldn’t get the ball away and it fell to the feet of Adam Farrell who thundered a volley across the goal and into the corner of the net. Two all and game on once again. The match would take a hostile edge in the 72nd minute when the Chorley players and fans would become increasingly frustrated with the referee over decisions they perceived to be going against them. But Chorley would have the last word on the match as in the 90th minute they stole the winning goal when a long ball down field was latched onto by Chorley’s Steve Burke and he squared it in front of goal. The Rossendale defence was nowhere to be seen as Adam Farrell stormed in and blasted the ball into the roof of the net to give the keeper no chance and put Chorley into the lead for the first time in the match with only seconds remaining on the clock. The terraces were a sight to behold as they Chorley fans had a party behind the goal. The full time whistle wasn’t long in following and Chorley had robbed a victory from the jaws of defeat.Well what an ending that was for the home supporters, but you have to feel a little for Rossendale who will be devasted not to have come away with at least a point after twice leading the contest. A draw would more than likely have been a fair result as neither side was really better than the other on the whole, yet both dominated the other in spells of the match. On the whole it was a match that was worth its entrance money, but nothing more than that. Congratulations to Chorley!
Full Time:
Chorley 3 – 2 Rossendale United
View more pics at:
http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/oo198/YellowCardPhotos/Chorley%20Vs%20Rossendale%20United/
