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SWINTON LIONS 8 OLDHAM 20

by ROGER HALSTEAD
 
OLDHAM rolled up their sleeves and played typical cup-tie rugby to avoid slipping up on the banana-skin that was provided by Swinton Lions at Sedgley Park.
 
It wasn't the side's prettiest performance of the season, but Steve Deakin's men always looked in control of this fourth round Carnegie Challenge Cup tie against a gritty and committed Swinton outfit which themselves did most things right until fatigue took over in the final quarter of an hour.
 
Until then the Lions, like Oldham, completed most of their sets; kicked and chased well; and defended stubbornly. And with two sides in the mood for giving nothing away on a bitterly cold day when a swirling wind made kicking hazardous at times, it was hardly surprising that defences were in the ascendancy.
 
Both sides adopted a safety-first strategy, but once the Roughyeds had held firm in the face of early Lions assaults led by forwards Bruce Johnson, Rob Line and Rob Ball and complemented by some astute kicking from halves Gary Hulse and Chris Hull into a huge in-goal area, the visitors got on top, and remained so.
 
James Coyle's boot, followed by an enthusiastic chase, gave Lions full-back Wayne English a lot of work to do in pressure situations and, ultimately, that pressure began to cause cracks in the Swinton defence.
 
Oldham's starting six was already beginning to get on top in the forwards before loose man Tommy Grundy went off with a back injury, to be replaced by Robert Roberts.
 
'Two Bobs' gave a polished performance on his return to the side after a three-game absence with a hand injury as the Roughyeds benefited from far more impact off the bench than anything the Lions could muster from their four replacements, Craig Ashall, Chris Tyrer, Martin Moana and Gareth Hayes.
 
Collectively, Roberts, Adam Robinson, Said Tamghart and Simeon Hoyle had considerably more to offer with 'Two Bobs' collecting the official Carnegie man-of-the-match award, judged by impartial observers, and Robinson and Tamghart constantly causing the home forwards grief with their strong and straight driving.
 
Robbo and Said relied on fire and brimstone to carry Oldham forward; 'Two Bobs' used subtlety and skill, and in the final analysis one would have to conclude that Roberts provided Oldham with that extra ration of creativity in the middle of the field that made such a huge difference to the outcome of this competitive, yet sportingly contested, cup tie.
 
A Mick Nanyn penalty goal nosed Oldham ahead in the eighth minute before the Roughyeds took a firm grip on the tie with converted tries by Neil Roden and Danny Halliwell in the 25th and 30th minutes.
 
Sent clear by his centre Nanyn, Lucas Onyango gave the visitors a firm foothold in the Swinton quarter and the next time Roughyeds had the ball, from a scrum, Roden spotted a gap and squeezed in for a try which Nanyn improved.
 
Five minutes later 'Two Bobs' provided a rare moment of sheer class with a shimmy and an inside break followed by a peach of a pass which gave the eagerly-supporting Halliwell the chance to turn on his pace and sweep majestically through to the posts.
 
Nanyn's goal gave Oldham a comfortable 14-0 lead with ten minutes remaining to half time, whereupon Roughyeds produced their one wobbly spell of the entire game to enable the Lions to draw some encouragement from a 37th minute try by centre Darren Bamford.
 
By conceding three penalties in a row Oldham threw the Lions a lifeline which they grabbed when Bamford capitalised on Hull's lob into Oldham's in-goal area to touch down for the try. What appeared to be a relatively easy conversion was struck wide, but a marksman of the quality of Oldham's Nanyn was to suffer similar failure in the second half when, at the same end of the field and against a stiff crossfield wind, he was off the mark with two penalty attempts and a conversion.
 
Roden, usually the coolest of half-backs, almost provided Swinton with another score in the run-up to half time when he flung a wide, cut-out pass to the left which Lions winger Barry Hamilton almost intercepted with a clear run to the Oldham line ahead of him. Fortunately for Oldham, he couldn't control the ball at pace, and he knocked-on.
 
The first score of the second half was always going to be important, and it was another Nanyn penalty for Oldham, which stretched their lead to 16-4.
 
Oldham should perhaps have made more of Coyle's superb 40-20, but they kept up the pressure, although Lions escaped when Nanyn twice put penalty shots wide. In between, some magnificent Oldham defence denied Bamford a try. The Lions centre was injured in the try-saving tackle and carried off on a stretcher with an ankle injury.
 
O'Connor, from full-back, and Joseph, from dummy half, began to make huge inroads into the Lions defence as the tie entered its last 15 minutes, and O'Connor was rewarded with a fine try on the end of Robinson's powerful drive and Coyle's final pass.
 
Soon afterwards, the full-back again cleared Oldham's lines impressively only to send an ambitious high pass to Onyango, who was judged to have knocked-on. This gave the Lions one last chance and they took it with a try in the corner by Hamilton after slick handling by the inside backs and in particular by Gary Sykes.
 
Scorers: Swinton - tries, Bamford, Hamilton; Oldham - goals, Nanyn (4); tries, Roden, Halliwell, O'Connor.
 
Swinton: English; Hamilton, Bamford, Gorton, Billy; Hull, Hulse; Line, Wood, Ball, Johnson, Rigby, Sykes. Subs: Ashall, Tyrer, Moana, Hayes.
 
Oldham: O'Connor; Langley, Littler, Nanyn, Onyango; Roden, Coyle; Boults, Joseph, Mervill, Goulden, Halliwell, Grundy. Subs: Roberts, Robinson, Tamghart, Hoyle.
 
Referee: Mr C Halloran (Batley); Att: 591.