THE FANS
Events
Links
Message Forum
Roughyeds Kids
Competition

COMMUNITY
Development

ROCHDALE HORNETS 32 OLDHAM 22

by ROGER HALSTEAD
 
NOT for the first time this season Oldham failed disappointingly at Spotland last night to play anywhere near their true potential or to produce anything approaching the best of their ability.
 
There can be complaints about the result --- a stark reminder of the Law Cup defeat on the same ground six weeks ago and the narrow, last-gasp win against Swinton at Boundary Park thanks to a piece of individual magic by James Coyle.
 
Since then Coyle has featured outstandingly at scrum-half in a memorable home win against Salford City Reds, followed by a 38-8 hammering of the Hornets at Boundary Park only last Friday.
 
Last night, however, he fell well below his own high standards -- despite his two second-half tries -- as the Rochdale half-backs Martin Ainscough and Chris Hough (Ainscough especially) lit up Spotland for the Hornets faithful and were clear winners of their half-back duel with Coyle and Neil Roden.
 
The chief concern from Oldham's point of view, mind you, was not that, for once, their talented No 7 failed to live up to expectations -- that can happen to anybody -- but that the team as a whole clearly went into battle in the wrong frame of mind, under-cooked and not ready mentally to face up to the challenge.
 
In that regard, a cracking try in the corner by Paul O'Connor as early as the fourth minute perhaps sent out the wrong signals. But an experienced team --- and Oldham have loads of it --- should never fall into the trap of underestimating opponents or showing them a total lack of respect.
 
The defence that has been so strong, resolute, determined and well-organised in recent outings struggled all night to cope with Jimmy Elston's speed and good hands out of dummy half; with stand-off Ainscough's sidestep, eye for the opening and lightning pace; and with the finishing prowess out wide on the Hornets left of Chris Spurr and Chris Campbell.
 
Struggling is one thing; failing abysmally and showing little stomach for the challenge is quite another, and that's what happened during six first-half minutes when Hornets went bump, bump, bump to score three tries during a whirlwind spell in which the Roughyeds' right-side defence was blitzed and blown apart.
 
During those six, crazy minutes it was difficult to know who was the more shell-shocked -- the Oldham players or their supporters.
 
Well though Hornets played, serious questions need to be asked about what went wrong with Oldham's right-side defence. Whatever it was, it was easy for players of the calibre of Ainscough and centre Spurr to cause total havoc to a team that will have to learn some pretty painful lessons quite quickly if the forthcoming NL2 campaign is to live up to expectations from the Roughyeds' point of view.
 
Oldham at least played more like we know they can play when coming back in the second half from 22-4 down to level at 22-22 with 20 minutes to go. You would have fancied them at that stage to kick on and win.
 
They were aided by a run of seven penalties out of eight, but Hornets -- repeatedly pulled up for slowing down the play-the-ball or ball stealing --- were lucky not to get anyone sin-binned, and that helped them to hang on by their finger-tips when Oldham had them under the cosh with the score all square.
 
At that stage a superb cover tackle by Campbell stopped Coyle just short, after Marcus St Hilaire's break; Rob Roberts knocked on when taking a quick tap penalty on the Hornets line; and Mick Nanyn looked a certain scorer when powering his way to the line until he appeared to have the ball ripped in a three-man challenge.
 
Had Oldham taken the lead they would probably have come away with a win, but Hornets showed great character and sense of purpose to soak up all that punishment; lose an 18-point lead; and still finish the stronger to pick up the win they deserved with late left-flank tries by Spurr and Campbell.
 
They each scored twice to stamp their hallmarks on the game. Other stand-out performers were Ainscough, Elston and second-rower Paul Alcock, not forgetting young, debutant full-back Carl Sneyd, an Oldhamer who was ice cool in his first match at this level and crowned it by picking up the man-of-the-match award.
 
It was a memorable night for the young Oldhamer, who had several rivals for the individual award yet pipped them all on the back of a performance that augurs well for his future in the sport.
 
First-half belonged almost exclusively to the home side. Not only were Oldham poor in defence; they rarely strung two or three passes together. It was later revealed that their set completion rate in the first half was a dreadful 35 per cent.
 
On top of that they were penalised for running offside at a restart kick; Nanyn put another restart out on the full; and Phil Joseph, one of Oldham's better performers, was penalise for incorrectly taking a tap penalty --- a decision coach Steve Deakin was to later query.
 
Spurr, Ainscough, Alcock and Campbell scored Rochdale tries in the first half, while Sneyd converted two of them and then kicked a penalty early in the second half to give Hornets their 22-4 lead.
 
Then came the fightback. Tommy Goulden went close on Roden's pass before Coyle nipped in for a try which Nanyn improved. It was to be the start of a spell which was similar to Rochdale's in the first half.
 
Joseph crashed over next and then Coyle chased his own kick to grab the touchdown. Nanyn goaled to level at 22-22. Game on. In the next few minutes Oldham had clear-cut opportunities to go in front, but they failed to execute with precision and Rochdale replied with a stunning try from long range by Spurr, sent away by the always-impressive Elston.
 
They clinched the win they deserved two minutes from the end when Campbell squeezed in at the corner to make it six tries from six down Oldham's right side. Food for thought indeed.
 
Scorers: Hornets - goals, Sneyd 4; tries, Spurr (2); Ainscough; Alcock; Campbell (2); Oldham -- goals, Nanyn (3); tries, O'Connor; Coyle (2); Joseph.
 
Hornets: Sneyd; Brown, Brocklehurst, Spurr, Campbell; Ainscough, Hough; Best, Elston, Callan, Alcock, Sinfield, Corcoran. Subs: Butterworth, Stout, O'Brien, Robinson.
 
Oldham: St Hilaire; Wilkinson, Littler, Nanyn, O'Connor; Roden, Coyle; Boults, Joseph, Mervill, Goulden, Roberts, Grundy. Subs: Bankls, Stevens, Robinson, Halliwell.
 
Referee: P Carr.