BATLEY BULLDOGS 18 OLDHAM 22
ROB WALLACE, Fox’s Biscuits Stadium, Sunday
OLDHAM maintained their position in the Championship top six with a hard earned win over Batley in a seesaw game where the lead changed hands several times.
Batley refused to buckle despite the visitors taking an early lead and they showed a spirit that is usually associated with a John Kear coached side, personified with the performance of Lucas Walshaw.
Jack Johnson scored two tries, but Matty Wildie produced a great performance for the visitors, controlling the ruck in the early stages and pushing Batley back with his superb kicking game.
Oldham hit the front in the eighth minute, Ryan Brierley breaking up the middle of the park before offloading to Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e who found Jack Johnson on the wing who dived over to score. Kieran Dixon missed the conversion and the score remained 0-4.
The visitors continued to dominate field position, maintaining a perfect completion rate for the opening quarter with good kicks from Wildie and Josh Drinkwater forcing the Bulldogs to continually bring the ball away from their own try line.
Buoyed by a penalty and the slope, Batley built momentum, forcing some sustained pressure on the Oldham defensive line before a knock on with the line open saw the ball find its way to Dixon who raced up field before being brought down. The ball was sent to the right and Drinkwater’s over the top pass put Johnson in at the corner for his second try of the game. Dixon added the conversion.
With ten minutes remaining of the half, Drinkwater dummied and took the ball to the line only to be held up by resolute Batley defence.
Batley built some momentum on the back of another penalty and a set restart in the final five minutes of the half, and following a good half break from Aidan McGowan, the ball was sent to the right edge to Walshaw who charged over to score to the right of the posts. Robbie Butterworth added the conversion to take the half-time score to 6-10.
Batley came out for the second half with the bit between their teeth and, smart play by McGowan saw the ball come to Nyle Flynn and the substitute charged over to score in the right corner. Butterworth added the conversion to see the hosts take a deserved two-point lead.
Short of the hour mark the visitors retook the lead as Drinkwater and Togaga’e combined to send Dixon over in the left corner despite the best efforts of Joe Burton. Dixon missed the conversion attempt as the score remained 12-14.
The hosts continued to show their fight and desire up the slope. An error was forced offering good field position for the Bulldogs to attack. Luke Blake went close and Alistair Leak picked up and attacked the shortside with a short flat pass to Walshaw who span and went over to score. Butterworth added the conversion to give Batley a four-point lead.
Brierley levelled the scores with nine minutes remaining, looping around the back of the line at pace, breaking through the line and racing over to score in the left corner. Drinkwater added the conversion from the touchline to give the visitors a two point advantage with eight minutes remaining.
As the hooter sounded, Drinkwater added a penalty goal after Batley attempted a ball steal in an attempt to win the game to take the full time score to 18-22.
GAMESTAR: Oldham rake Matty Wildie offered pace and energy around the ruck and a smart kicking game for the visitors. It was noticeable that when he wasn’t on the field that Oldham lost their control of the game.
GAMEBREAKER: Ryan Brierley’s try and Josh Drinkwater’s conversion saw the visitors take the lead but it was the reintroduction of Matty Wildie from the bench minutes before that added spark and energy to the Oldham ruck.
MATCHFACTS
BULLDOGS
34 Aidan McGowan
2 Joe Burton
4 Joe Arundel
3 Ollie Greensmith
19 Jack Render
1 Robbie Butterworth
6 Ben White
8 Adam Gledhill
14 Brandon Moore
13 James Brown
12 Lucas Walshaw
11 Dane Manning
17 Luke Blake
Subs (all used)
15 Nyle Flynn
9 Alistair Leak
35 Jack Billington
10 Luke Cooper
Tries: Walshaw (38, 63), Flynn (50)
Goals: Butterworth 3/3
OLDHAM
31 Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e
20 Jack Johnson
24 Ben O’Keefe
38 Ben Davies
2 Kieran Dixon
1 Ryan Brierley
23 Josh Drinkwater
10 Owen Farnworth
9 Matty Wildie
12 Jack Ormondroyd
17 Elijah Taylor
11 Matty Ashurst
13 Adam Milner
Subs (all used)
42 Morgan Smith
15 Jay Chapelhow
21 Lewis Baxter
16 Pat Moran
Tries: Johnson (8, 27), Dixon (57), Brierley (71)
Goals: Dixon 1/3, Drinkwater 2/2
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-10, 6-10; 12-10, 12-14, 18-14, 18-20, 18-22
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Bulldogs: Lucas Walshaw; Oldham: Matty Wildie
Penalty count: 3-5
Half-time: 6-10
Referee: Matty Lynn
Attendance: 2,480