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by ROGER HALSTEAD
 
STEVE Deakin, the Oldham boss, said he was "very proud" of his side's performance in beating NL1 side Whitehaven 16-6 at Boundary Park to reach the quarter-finals of the Northern Rail Cup.
 
He went on: "The defensive effort was outstanding. Also, we kept our discipline and our composure and we put a lot of pressure on a team which, only a week earlier, had taken Widnes to the wire. The score didn't flatter us. Whitehaven played well, but for us to beat them 16-6 is testimony to how well we played."
 
Asked if Roughyeds were nervous in the opening 15 minutes or so, he replied: "Nervous? NO we weren't nervous. I know we failed to complete four of our first five sets, but it was nothing to do with nerves. We were very relaxed in the dressing room before the game, but we erred from the kick off and then we made mistakes in each of our first two sets and that gave them field position and momentum.
 
"Also, we stood off a little bit in defence during that opening period, but once we had sorted that out I didn't really think Whitehaven ever seriously looked like scoring.
 
"The game plan today was to drag the ruck around, but the players said the ball got very slippy in the second half, so we went back to basics. Our defence in the second half was superb, and our skill and execution in scoring the third try by Neil Roden was as good as you will see in a rugby league game. Our support play throughout the game was also good, and that shows we came with the right attitude."
 
Clearly unhappy by Simeon Hoyle's backchat, which earned him a yellow card, Deaks said: "I'll be speaking to Simeon this week. That sort of thing isn't good enough for this club and it won't happen again."