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Oldham's young reserves
team put up another battling performance against derby rivals
Rochdale Hornets at Castleton before slipping to a 38-28 defeat. With a large sprinkling of Oldham lads in both teams the game was played in a great spirit. A few opponents would be team mates at amateur club level on another day and there was something of the State of Origin "mate v mate" scenario, as witnessed when Rochdale's Eric Johnson floored Oldham's Phil Jagger with a fantastic bit hit, and then patted him on the back with a smile, writes ROGER HALSTEAD. Jagger shook himself down, played the ball and got on with the game. It was that sort of match -- a credit to both teams and to both sets of coaches, as was the previous game between the clubs at Sedgley Park a fortnight ago. Oldham conceded 14 penalties to Rochdale's 11, but they were nearly all for offside, slowing down the play-the-ball or ball stealing on a night when the referee certainly got his money's worth out of his whistle. The visitors were also prone to err in possession, with the result that they spent long periods of the game camped out in their own territory and defending back-to-back sets on their own line. This they did admirably, while also finding time and energy to score five tries by Chris Baines, winger Dale Evans, centres Gareth Schofield and Adam Jeffries and Ian Hodson. With Lee Wingfield, Baines and Hodson all in the Oldham pack from the start, there was a fair amount of experience in the Roughyeds forwards and this undoutedly helped to hold the side together during the many periods of almost constant Hornets pressure. Baines and Hodson completed the full game, Hodson starting in the second-row and finishing at stand-off which perhaps suggested they were unlikely to be called up for first-team action on Sunday. Wingfield had a breather in mid-match before returning for a second spell in the second half. Oldham were unlucky to trail 22-10 at half time, but they kept battling away in the second half and by scoring two converted tries in two minutes they pulled back the deficit to 36-28 with ten minutes still remaining. Baines scored the first Oldham try after charging down Chris Hough's clearing kick; Evans scored the second in the corner after intelligent use of the short side by hooker Scott Mansfield and centre Gareth Schofield; and Schofield himself grabbed the third by cutting infield and rounding the full-back after good approach work earlier by Hodson and Ethan Langhorn. Jeffries scored the fourth with a solo burst for the line, while Hodson went over in the corner for the fifth as Oldham began to sniff a late surge to victory. Leading by eight points with six minutes remaining, Hornets showed Oldham the greatest respect by going for goal on a penalty to finish worthy winners 38-28. Oldham had contributed much to an excellent game, but coach John Hough will be looking for an improvement in the next game. He said: "For the first time this season, I am a little bit disappointed. I am not a scoreboard coach, but I do like to see improvement week on week and I didn't think we showed any improvement at all tonight. We will address that situation as we prepare for the next game. "Of the senior players, it was good to see Lee Wingfield coming along nicely after such a hefty absence through injury, and I thought Chris Baines and Ian Hodson both contributed much. Of the other lads, Alex Eyres at prop also did very well." Hornets: Tucker; Grady, Highton, Knight, Lloyd; M Brown, Hough; Wild, O'Brien, Samuels, Charlesworth, Dewhirst, Hale. Subs: J Brown, Sweeney, Johnson, Cookson. Oldham: Taylor; Evans, Schofield, Jeffries, Wildman; Langhorn, Lowe; Eyres, Mansfield, Wingfield, Jagger, Hodson, Baines. Subs: Garratt, Clarke, Sarsfield, Orwell. |
