Rochdale v Newcastle Thunder and League 1 preview

Sunday afternoon sees a second week in a row on the road, this time to Rochdale.

The opposition

Rochdale lost at home to a good Midlands outfit last time out and will be confident of getting back to winning ways against a winless Thunder side. Hornets are an experienced League 1 side and may be slightly disappointed with their consistency this season, they will have no doubt set the pre-season goal of a play-off place. With a game in hand they're in a good place to achieve this but they need to be more consistent.

The race for play-offs will go to the wire in such an unpredictable league and I think that Rochdale have the squad to make it, from there anything can happen.

Thunder

Chris Thorman has named his squad again impacted by dual registration with Bradford requiring their players for a reserves fixture. I've said a bit about dual registration this season, but surely these lads would be better off playing League 1 rather than reserves?

In the main this week it's a squad of local lads, it'll be another tough afternoon down at Rochdale. As I say every week, they'll be looking for improvements week on week. From my side of things as long as this young group are going out there and giving it their all that's all that matters.

Other games

Midlands take on Whitehaven on Sunday afternoon, this could be a classic. Midlands come into this won following their first win at Rochdale, an impressive one at that. Whitehaven had a solid home victory over Goole. I think Midlands will have enough at home but it'll not be easy against a tough Whitehaven outfit.

Keighley welcome North Wales to Cougar Park on Sunday afternoon. Keighley as I've said before have a much better squad than their winless league campaign shows, if anyone can work out what's going on I'd be interested to know! North Wales steamrolled Thunder last week and will be hopeful of backing that up with a win on the road. Keighley must turn up for this but I'm going with North Wales winning and keeping them top of the table.

Another team who have been impressive from a bit under the radar are Workington, they welcome Goole to Cumbria this weekend. Goole lost out on their last trip to Cumbria a fortnight ago but they are a tough outfit. I expect Workington to have too much at home against a Goole team who are doing well whilst finding their feet at this level.