Treble puts Ford in front

JON Ford’s hat-trick at Gateshead has given him the lead in the list of Oldham RL try scorers.

The 19-year-old Roughyeds loanee from link club Salford City Reds has scored 12 tries in eight games, including four in the 36-32 last-gasp win in South Wales and three on Sunday when Scott Naylor’s men won 44-12 in the North-East.

Remarkably, he has chalked up 11 of those tries in the last six games.

It started against Gateshead when they were beaten 54-16 at Whitebank on May 26, but hopefully it won’t have come to an end against the Tynesiders, given that Oldham’s next game at Tony Benson’s Oxford is regarded within the club as one of the most important of the season.

St Helens-born Ford stands tall at 6ft 5in and his height and reach have enabled him to score most of his tries from captain Lewis Palfrey’s perfectly-weighted kicks to the left flank.

“It certainly helps being so tall, but I’m fortunate to be playing in a good team,” said Ford, whose dozen deliveries have pushed 10-try hooker Adam Files, another on-loan player from Salford, into second place.

Second-row man Danny Langtree is in third place on eight, while full-back Richard Lepori and winger Dale Bloomfield are in joint fourth place, each with seven, one more than sixth-placed Mo Agoro.

Roughyeds, beaten 18-16 by Oxford at Whitebank in April, will tonight begin the countdown to their first trip to Iffley Road, the stadium in which the legendary Roger Bannister became the first man to run a four-minute mile nearly 60 years ago.

Liam Gilchrist, Lewis Palfrey and Kenny Hughes picked up knocks last weekend and all three will be assessed tonight.
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