OLDHAM 28 BARROW RAIDERS 16
IAN WILSON, Boundary Park, Sunday

THE Roughyeds maintained their winning run of Championship fixtures, now at 16, over a Barrow side that gave them the fright of their lives.

The result was a five tries to three victory for Oldham – but that doesn’t tell the half of it.

Most of the first quarter of the contest was very even. Oldham had the first opportunity when Ben Davies just failed to hold on to a Josh Drinkwater last-tackle bomb in his opponents’ in-goal area.

Then Ryan Johnston’s superb 40/20 set up a serious Barrow attack close in, but the Roughyeds successfully defended it.

But then, from their next attack, Oldham went ahead. A Morgan Smith bomb spiralled too much for the Barrow backline to cope with, and after Davies had gone close, classy passing to the left allowed Jack Walker to create an opening for Ben O’Keefe.

But if Oldham felt that this was the beginning of a stroll to yet another victory, they were very soon disillusioned. Almost all the rest of the first half was played inside their own half, with Barrow’s powerhouse pack getting steadily on top, and Johnston in particular causing huge problems both with his creative play and his kicking from hand.

Repeat set after repeat set had Oldham defending mostly heroically – but the sustained pressure simply had to tell in the end.

The first Barrow try came in the 21st minute, after Walker had just managed to make one of Johnston’s attacking grubber kicks dead, and after Oldham had had to face three consecutive sets. Big prop Tom Walker eventually crashed over under the Oldham posts from about two yards out.

And just seven minutes later, after further Raiders pressure, an untidy period of passing towards their right-hand corner saw a try for winger Dan Knott that looked somewhat controversial. A superb Johnston conversion, though, gave his side a deserved 12-4 half-time lead.

If Oldham coach Alan Kilshaw has not got a lucrative sideline in motivational speaking, the way his side came out to play in the second half suggests he should seriously consider it!

It was immediately obvious that they were playing quicker, and harder – and it took only one minute for a score. Another huge Smith bomb was too much for Luke Cresswell in the face of a quality Oldham chase, and Tom Nisbet simply had to pick up the resulting loose ball and go over. Smith’s conversion, followed soon after by a penalty goal, brought the scores level at 12-12.

Paul Creary’s men did not give in at this point, of course – he too is well-known as Barrow’s motivator-in-chief – and after surviving repeated Oldham attacks, a long run from a tap penalty by Joe Bullock that caught the home side by surprise set up a score by Jarrad Stack in the right corner – unconverted this time – that restored the visitors’ lead in the 53rd minute.

But that was really the end of their resistance, as Oldham, now clearly on top, took complete control in the final quarter.

Three scores cemented the win – Bayley Liu from short range, and Luke Forber with a flying dive after a spectacular touchline dash, followed by a marvellous sleight of hand in the 73rd minute by Drinkwater.

How important is discipline, though, in a tight match such as this – a sin-binning for Luke Broadbent in the 60th minute coincided with the two Roughyed tries that established them as certain winners by the time he returned ten minutes later.

GAMESTAR: Morgan Smith was instrumental in several of the successful elements of Oldham’s attack on a day when his side had a real struggle to generate try-scoring chances.

GAMEBREAKER: The temptation is to suggest Alan Kilshaw’s half-time team talk. Oldham came out with a new approach after the interval, and soon established the dominance which eventually saw them home.

MATCHFACTS

OLDHAM
1 Jack Walker
21 Tom Nisbet
4 Ben Davies
3 Ben O’Keefe
29 Luke Forber
6 Morgan Smith
23 Josh Drinkwater
15 Owen Farnworth
9 Matty Wildie
22 Tom McKinney
27 Bayley Liu
26 Brad Day
13 Adam Milner
Subs (all used)
7 Tom Forber
15 Ted Chapelhow
16 Ewan Moore
30 Finlay Irwin

Tries: O’Keefe (11), Nisbet (41), Liu (61), L Forber (66), Drinkwater (73)
Goals: Smith 4/7

RAIDERS
1 Luke Cresswell
20 Dan Knott
4 Curtis Teare
3 Shane Toal
5 Luke Broadbent
17 Alex Bishop
7 Ryan Johnston
33 Brad Singleton
9 Josh Wood
8 Tom Walker
15 Charlie Emslie
13 Ryan King
16 Greg Richards
Subs (all used)
10 Joe Bullock
30 Fin Dutton-Rosconie
31 Jarrad Stack
32 Harvey Makin

Tries: T Walker (21), Knott (28), Stack (53)
Goals: Johnston 2/3

SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 4-6, 4-12; 10-12, 12-12, 12-16, 18-16, 22-16, 28-16

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Oldham: Morgan Smith; Raiders: Ryan Johnston

Penalty count: 8-4
Half-time: 4-12
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas