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OLDHAM 22 SWINTON LIONS 20

by ROGER HALSTEAD
 
IN head coach Steve Deakin and chief executive Chris Hamilton the Roughyeds have far too much experience and know-how at the top end of the club ever to have fallen into the trap of thinking games in the Northern Rail Cup or NL2 were going to be easy.
 
They never did, and they never will. But if it needed to be confirmed in deeds and actions then first Rochdale Hornets and then, on Friday, Swinton Lions made it abundantly clear that this new Oldham side of high-profile signings won't be getting any favours from rivals who love nothing better than to take a prized scalp.
 
Hornets managed it in the Law Cup; Swinton Lions came within a couple of minutes of doing it at Boundary Park in Group Four of the Northern Rail Cup . . . and you would be hard pressed not to agree that Deakin's men were a touch fortunate.
 
From leading 16-0 and looking good, Roughyeds conceded 20 unanswered points and at times looked powerless to stop the momentum that the Lions had built up.
 
In the end it needed a touch of magic from classy scrum-half James Coyle to win the game with a stunning solo try with only two minutes left on the clock. If you buy class, there's going to come a time when individual talent gets the team out of a hole -- and that's what happened when twinkle-toed Coyle danced past Chris Tyrer and then exploded into space from almost a standing start to somersault in by the side of the posts.
 
Mick Nanyn's easy conversion edged Oldham back in front at 22-20, but even then the Lions were not finished.
 
Phil Joseph was penalised in possession for a faulty play-the-ball and it needed desperate Oldham defence to stop Gary Sykes forcing his way over the line on the last tackle. Yes, it was as close as that.
 
Thanks to their young scrum-half, whose spot-on distribution carved out openings for Robert Roberts and Nanyn to score tries early on, Deaks's men got their Northern Rail Cup campaign off to a winning start.
 
They haven't done that very often in the past six seasons. Remember last year? It wasn't until their sixth game in this competition that they managed a win, yet those early-season defeats paved the way for late-season successes that earned Roughyeds a place in the NL2 Grand Final after three excellent play-off victories.
 
Deaks is confident that this new side will eventually gel, just as last year's team improved steadily and then exploded into form following that magnificent watershed win against Celtic Crusaders down in South Wales.
 
For now, fans are asked to be patient while Deaks and his staff work on producing a more cohesive unit from a squad that includes eight newcomers.
 
They began well against the Lions, but all too soon they lost their shape and fell into the trap of conceding needless penalties and failing to control their possession. It was a constantly untidy and messy game around the play-the-ball and that didn't help -- especially when Said Tamghart was sin-binned for slowing down a Lions' ruck in the 28th minute.
 
Three minutes earlier hooker Joseph was taken off for a breather and that, plus the departure of the Frenchman seemed to change the entire pattern of the game.
 
Until then, Swinton had rarely looked like threatening Oldham's defence, let alone scoring. But in the next set after Said's departure, Bruce Johnson stretched out to touch down in a two-man tackle on the Oldham line which should have buried him.
 
Jason Boults, like Joseph instrumental in taking Oldham forward in the first 20 minutes, was also replaced about this time. Boults had a fine game and in his two spells carried the side forward better than anyone else.
 
The substitutions, Said's dismissal, and the 'lift' the Lions got from the Johnson try had the combined affect of turning the game on its head.
 
Swinton started slowly, losing possession and conceding three of the game's first four penalties. Oldham capitalised with strong work up front, particularly from Boults and Joseph, and some good link work from the halves, Coyle and Neil Roden.
 
Coyle's impeccably timed passes provided Roberts with a walk-in on the right and Nanyn with a stroll to the line on the left. In between, Roden's delicately placed grubber sat up perfectly for Marcus St Hilaire to go in.
 
Nobody could have anticipated the turn-around to follow. Having pulled back to 16-6 by half-time, Swinton further cut the deficit to 16-12 when Marlon Billy outjumped Daryl Cardiss to score from Liam McGovern's high chip.
 
Substitute McGovern provided the Lions with three good half-backs on the field at once -- Hawkyard, Hulse and McGovern -- and they operated well behind a strong set of forwards to provide Oldham with serious problems.
 
They went in front for the first time in the 55th minute when Rob Ball crashed over. New half-back Richie Hawkyard, watched from the stand by his uncle Colin (does that name ring a bell?), converted all three tries and then landed a penalty for dissent to push the Lions into a 20-16 lead midway through the second half.
 
He had a chance to further increase the lead when Richard Mervill was done for a high shot, but this time he fired wide.
 
It was to prove a costly miss because the Coyle try and Nanyn conversion provided the home side with a two-point winning margin.
 
Deaks knows he has a lot of work to do, perhaps to be expected with so many new faces in the side and so little time up to now spent on ball work.
 
Salford are next up and with Oldham going in as underdogs for a change, it will be fascinating to see what difference that makes --- quite a lot, I suspect.
 
Scorers: Oldham -- goals, Nanyn (3); tries, Roberts, St Hilaire, Nanyn, Coyle; Swinton - goals, Hawkyard (4); tries, Johnson, Billy, Ball.
 
Oldham: O'Connor; Cardiss, Halliwell, Nanyn, St Hilaire; Roden, Coyle; Boults, Joseph, Mervill, Grundy, Roberts, Goulden. Subs: Brooks, Baldwin, Robinson, Tamghart.
 
Swinton: English; Saywell, Hull, Gorton, Billy; Hawkyard, Hulse; Line, Wood, Ball, Morley, Rigby, Sykes. Subs: McGovern, Moana, Tyrer, Johnson.
 
Referee: Paul Carr (Castleford); Att: 848.