Roughyeds seen off by sharp Town

Workington 31, Oldham 12

Workington simply too good
DID anyone see that one coming?

Roughyeds were second best by a country mile at Derwent Park where they slipped to a fourth defeat in six games and didn't even glean a bonus point.

Town were sharper, more incisive, better organised, more structured — and they had at the heart of all they did a head-and-shoulders man of the match in scrum-half Scott Kaighan.

The 22-year-old former Barrow half-back commanded the ball on the last play of every Workington set and kicked Tony Benson's men to death.

He was the expert. It was his job. It wasn't a task for anybody else in a Town shirt. Goalkicking apart — he was pretty average at that — he caused consternation in the Roughyeds camp every time he put boot to ball.

In contrast, Neil Roden, Danny Whitmore and Mick Diveney dabbled at it on the few occasions Roughyeds got a glimpse of Town's try line without ever matching Kaighan's clever delivery.

He made life hell for Oldham's teenaged winger Matthew Fogarty in the first 20 minutes, but once the youngster had overcome his nerves and had learned to live with everything Kaighan could launch at him Town's playmaker-in-chief looked elsewhere for his kicks.

For starters he reacted with lightning speed to send winger Neil Frazer over for a try when one such kick rebounded back to him off Paul Noone.

Then, with the second half only a minute old, he broke Oldham hearts with a chip over the defensive line before regathering, giving Roughyeds full-back Mark Brocklehurst the slip with a deft little show-and-go and scoring under the posts.

Having failed to convert each of his side's three first-half tries, Kaighan collected 11 second-half points with a touch down, two conversions, a penalty and a drop goal.

Town were off to a sizzling start with tries by Jason Mossop on the right and Aaron Low on the left in the first five minutes.

Roughyeds looked like they were still on the bus when guilty of early mistakes which put Town on top and which set the pattern for the rest of the game.

With Town's first touch of the ball Frazer stepped Fogarty on the outside and raced up the touchline to draw Brocklehurst and send in Mossop.

Mick Diveney's restart kick sailed out on the full, then Oldham were penalised in the next set before Low received Graeme Mattinson's wide pass to the wing to cut back inside and score.

Laboured in attack, and often guilty of high tackles, Roughyeds went 12-0 down when conceding the first of Frazer's two tries in the 18th minute.

The visitors struggled to keep hold of possession, but they were still in the game at half-time, though desperate to score first early in the second half.

It wasn't to be. Kaighan scored his super solo straight from kick-off before Town's right-flank pair of Mossop and Frazer ruthlessly exposed Oldham's defensive frailties out wide for Frazer to race away to the line.

It was game over at 24-0, but Oldham saw a chink of light at the end of the tunnel when Diveney's short ball sent in Ben Wood for a try before Town prop Ryan Macdonald was sent off in the 65th minute for leading with his forearm.

Roughyeds promptly conceded five penalties to go 27-6 down before Isherwood fashioned a late Oldham try for John Clough.

One more score would have sent them into bonus-point territory, but while trying to force the pass another move broke down — how many was that? — and Bainbridge hacked the ball on to complete an extremely satisying afternoon's work for the Cumbrians.