Agony for Oldham bravehearts

Oldham’s Sam Gee runs hard at the Crusaders defence.

CRUSADERS 22, OLDHAM 20
UNLUCKY Oldham deserved more than a bonus point from this top-of-the-table thriller.

It was one of three Crusaders tries in a seven-minute spell at the start of the second half which turned this Championship One game on its head.

Having taken a deserved 10-6 lead into half-time, Scott Naylor’s men were stunned by the power and intensity of the league leaders’ response.

Centre Stuart Reardon twice ripped through Roughyeds’ left-side defence. Reardon, formerly in Super League with Bradford Bulls and Warrington Wolves, is still a class act as.

Oldham doesn’t have players of such experience or pedigree, but does have a mainly young team full of promise and potential, getting better and stronger by the week.

Tries by Adam Files and Jon Ford produced a sensational finish in which Lewis Palfrey had the opportunity, after the final hooter had sounded, to convert Ford’s score off the touchline to give Roughyeds the draw they so richly deserved.

Amid a cacophony of banging drums, whistles and howls from the vociferous home crowd, the Oldham skipper put his angled kick wide of the far post.

Their opponents had already shown Oldham great respect when hanging on to a 22-16 lead, first when they chose to go for goal from a penalty just inside the visitors’ half and later when Johnson attempted an ambitious drop goal from a similar distance. Make no mistake, they were rattled.

Not for the first time this year, Oldham began a trifle nervously, making early mistakes and giving Crusaders the possession and field position to apply pressure.

Conceding weight and size in the forwards, Oldham had to work overtime to contain the likes of Ryan Macdonald and Jono Smith, but they never flinched and gradually worked their way into the ascendancy the longer the half went on.

They were rewarded on the half hour when Palfrey changed the direction of attack with an inside pass to Richard Lepori, who squeezed in by the posts for Palfrey’s conversion to level the scores.

It was to get even better. Lepori twice rescued Roughyeds in defence, then a powerful drive by Jason Boults and a typical Files scoot from dummy half set up position from which Palfrey’s cross-kick to the corner was brilliantly dealt with by winger Mo Agoro. Leaping high above his opponent he plucked the ball out of the air and got the ball down just inside touch-in-goal.

Oldham were blitzed at the start of the second half, but from 22-10 down they responded magnificently.

Palfrey’s kicking game kept Crusaders pinned back as Oldham went in search of the equalising six points, and with time running out they went agonisingly close when Sam Gee got over the line only to be held up by desperate home defence.

Palfrey’s kick for the corner in the dying seconds was fumbled by Massam and Ford pounced to score the try which gave Crusaders the only real fright they’ve had all season.