Last night, (Tuesday, July 30) was a night to remember at the Vestacare Stadium as Avro defeated National League side Rochdale 1-0 in front of 700 fans.
Before the match Avro paid their respects to former manager John Smith who recently died.
The club welcomed his family onto the pitch, and presented them with a bouquet of flowers before the stadium erupted into a minute’s applause.
The visitors came firing out of the gate and started pressuring the Avro goal straight away.
In the 20th minute one of their shots made it through but was then disallowed due to the scorer being ruled offside.
Defender Dave Fitzpatrick made a last-ditch effort to clear the ball soon after and Rochdale were again denied.
Goalkeeper Grant Shenton made some good saves as Rochdale continued to press before the sides went into the break goalless.
The second-half saw Avro turn up the attacking efforts as the hosts started to make some good runs at Rochdale’s goal.
Avro’s efforts were awarded in the 54th minute as Liam Ellis slotted one past the visiting keeper.
A minute later and Chiehk Thiam nearly doubled the lead with a nice effort on goal that was thwarted by Rochdale’s man between the sticks.
Rochdale had a chance to tie things up when they were awarded a penalty in the 62nd minute but the resulting attempt cannoned off the bar before the rebound was put over the top.
Avro continued to pile on the pressure and netted a second in the 80th minute that was disallowed, keeping the score at 1-0.
Four minutes from time, A J Warburton made a good run and challenged the keeper, who had to stretch to make a save from the young footballer’s rocket shot.
Soon after the ref blew the whistle for full-time.
Avro will begin their season at home on August 10, kick-off at 3pm, as they welcome Atherton Collieries to the Vestacare Stadium.
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