NVDTahir

April Update

This is the final game of the season, it was hectic and here's how it went... (click the spoilers to view how each half unfolded).

April was the deciding month for us, it was either promotion or uncertainty and I reckon we did well:

Rochdale AFC 1-0 Burnley (H)

Sky Bet Championship

Scott Hogan (pen, 86')

Scott Malone (Burnley) -- 7.5

Match Review
We did well to hold onto a point here at Spotland, but Scott Hogan ended up smashing home a penalty to win us the match.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-3 Rochdale AFC (A)

Sky Bet Championship

Scott Hogan (16', 40')

Rhys Bennett (90+1')

Luke O'Neill (Rochdale AFC) -- 9.0

Match Review
A very good game, we dominated them. EXACTLY what we needed at this stage of the league, spot on.

QPR 2-1 Rochdale AFC (A)

Sky Bet Championship

Rhys Bennett (5')

Nick Powell (29')

Loïc Rémy (80')

Loïc Rémy (QPR) -- 8.3

Match Review
We played really poorly against QPR who were much further down the table in 15th place, we should have got the victory and this loss ultimately dented our chances to win the title... which would have been phenomenal.

Rochdale AFC 2-0 Leeds United (H)

Sky Bet Championship

Mamadou Niang (46')

Scott Hogan (90+2')

Nicholas Ioannou (Rochdale AFC) -- 7.8

Match Review
We finally beat Leeds at home, after losing to them at their stadium previously. This was a massive step forward towards promotion.

Brighton 0-3 Rochdale AFC (A)

Sky Bet Championship

Brian Graham (7')

Scott Hogan (47', 52')

Scott Hogan (Rochdale AFC) -- 9.0

Match Review
We won this one with a solid result, one which we thoroughly expected.

Rochdale AFC 1-0 West Ham (H)

Sky Bet Championship

Plaisir Bahamboula (13')

Rhys Bennett (Rochdale AFC) -- 8.1

Match Review
The final match which got us all tensed. It was one of the best days of my life.

Player of the Month

Even though Scott Hogan scored 6 goals in 6 games, I had to give the PoTM award to Ian McLoughlin, who kept an amazing total of 5 clean sheets in the 6 final games, which ultimately helped us to promotion... He has been a great signing.

Author's Notes

I never thought we'd have done this guys. NEVER in my dreams did I imagine myself lead Rochdale to back-to-back promotions to the top-flight. I just hope we can stay up next season and maybe the season after that we can fight for a cup competition?

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shylax

11 years

Congratulations on promotion to the Prem, as well as back to back promotions!

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Couragesand

11 years

CONGRATTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTS

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Neal

11 years

Wow, I ought to go into professional commentary

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pompeyblue

11 years

Congrats on promotion to the BPL

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k1rups

11 years

Great match report haha and congrats on the promotion!

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NVDTahir

11 years

@ebEliminator: Thanks Eb!

@CourageSand: Cheers fella!

@Neal: yup haha, you do!

@PompeyBlue: Thanks Joshua!

@k1rups: thanks a lot amigo!

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NVDTahir

11 years

The Awards

Golden Boot Award

The Golden Boot award goes to Scott Hogan for his 23 goals in all competitions. He has been phenominal this season and he continues to get better every single season that he stars in, let's all hope he keeps this up for the future... This is his third successive Golden Boot Award.

Golden Helper Award

Brian Graham has been a surprise this season. He has scored a total of 18 goals in all competitions, but has also notched up 11 assists. He is an ultimate BEAST despite his star rating of 2 stars.

Best Signing Award

Justin Schmidt had a bit of a rocky start to the team and to English football, but he has since become accusttomed to England. He's been capped several times by Bosnia-Herzegovina and has also been called up to the national team for the Euros. He will be an insane player in the Premier League, all because we signed him for just over £220k... A true bargain.

Player of the Season

Even though he is on loan, Nicholas Ioannou has been the main centre-piece of our defence this season and the whole defensive line was built around this Manchester United youngster. He is a boulder in the heart of defence and I'd love to try and sign him on a permanent deal in the future, maybe even next season.