Rossendale Seconds suffer a big defeat to near rivals Sedgley Park

Rossendale Second team had a short trip down the M66 to their near neighbours Sedgley Park in their latest Premier league fixture on Saturday. Despite the team being short of a number of regulars through injury , unavailability and call ups to the first team squad the seconds still boasted a decent side and anticipation was high. The Dale lads started out on a bright note when after only a few minutes some wonderful hands through the backs saw Olly Molloy find the gap through the home defence and out pace his opposition over the next fifty metres. A last ditch cover tackle brought Molloy down with only feet to the try line but from the resulting rucks Dale lost the ball and Sedge were able to clear their line. There was then a dramatic shift in the game and Sedgley ran in several tries . Not down hearted Dale struck back and continued to press into Sedgley territory, a lovely ball by Callum Whelan found George Lowthion in support and a strong driving run took Dale back up field into the home teams 22 . Again Dales efforts went to nothing with the home side once again gaining control of the ball and they took full advantage by posting further points on the board. By half time things got worse for Rossendale . Josh France had to leave the field with a horrific looking knee injury while several other Dale players had picked up significant knocks in the half but bravely battled on. The second half continued in the same vein if not a little worse for Rossendale . As the injuries took their tolls on the players Sedgley continued to pile the pressure on and recorded a number of further almost back to back tries. There was still a never say die attitude from Rossendale. Jake Foster made several penetrating runs in to the Sedgley territory whiled Jordan Fortune gave everything in the tackle and turned the ball back over to Dale on several occasions. Further scores by Sedgley however took the game well beyond anything that the travelling side could of imagined at the outset but goes to show that being at your best in matches and having a big squad of players to play at the level the Premier division competes at is a must.