Fax batter Rochdale to break Championship losing streak

Halifax grabbed their first Championship win since mid-July with a 58-0 towelling of bottom-club Rochdale Hornets at the Shay.

Victory was never in doubt after the home side eased to a 20-0 half time lead, before turning the screw after the break against hapless opponents, who had loose forward Zac Baker sin-binned twice for high tackles, with winger Brandon Wood also receiving a late yellow card.

A contest between two teams with a combined total of one win in their last 31 outings had not promised much and a torrential downpour just before kick off did little to raise expectations.

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But for the first 40 minutes there was only one team in it as Simon Grix’s Fax line up found a control that they’ve lacked for most of the year.

It was rarely spectacular, but after Jacob Fairbank’s try, converted by Steve Tyrer, had given them a third-minute lead they didn’t look like relinquishing their grip on their League 1-bound visitors.

They had already gone close to scoring on two further occasions - through Tyrer and full back James Woodburn-Hall - by the time captain Scott Murrell kicked high and wide for Tyrer to collect and score.

The centre’s conversion went wide, as did his next attempt when Woodburn-Hall scored three minutes later to leave a 14-0 scoreline.

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Fax had two more scores ruled out - from Fairbank and Will Sharp - for forward passes before the break, but sandwiched in between those was a carbon-copy second for Tyrer, who converted for a 20-0 interval lead.

If Fax weren’t out of sight at the break, they were shortly after it, Hornets failure to collect the kick off sparking a burst of three tries in three minutes.

Sharp got the first from a James Saltonstall pass, Liam Cooper the second after a surge through the middle and Woodburn-Hall the third after an offload from Keegan Hirst.

Tyrer converted two for a 36-0 lead as Rochdale struggled to hold the ball and escape their own half.

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Fax scored their best try of the game on 60 minutes, replacement winger Conor McGrath applying a spectacular finish to Woodburn-Hall’s slick pass on the left edge.

Tyrer converted for a 42-0 lead, and then created a second for McGrath with a flick pass before adding the kick from the sideline.

Dan Fleming’s late barge over and a diving finish on the other flank from Sharp rounded off a solid afternoon’s work.

Halifax: Woodburn-Hall; Robinson, Tyrer, Saltonstall, Sharp; Murrell, Johnston; Fairbank, Kaye, Hirst, Cooper, Kavanagh, Larroyer. Subs: Moore, Fleming, Morris, McGrath

Rochdale: Abram; Ainscough, Worthington, Grant, Wood; Thomas, Farrell; Marriott, Weldon, Syme, Shelford, Baker. Subs: Mitchell, Sheridan, Gleeson, Wood

Referee: C. Worsley

Attendance: 1,126