Promotion bid checked by Golden boys

Photo: PICTURES by CHRIS SUNDERLAND

FULL THROTTLE: Oldham’s Phil Joy.

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Oldham 24, Gloucester 24

JUST when fans believed Oldham might pull off their automatic promotion mission from Kingstone Press Championship One, along come Brad Hepi’s All Golds.

Basement boys Gloucester deserved their share of the points at Whitebank - in fact Roughyeds coach Scott Naylor conceded the West Countrymen’s rousing second-half fightback perhaps warranted more.

After the highs of beating favourites North Wales Crusaders then London Skolars in the last couple of weeks, this was definitely a low few people saw coming for the high-fliers in their final home game of the regular season.

The afternoon was going to script at half-time, with tries from Richard Lepori, Josh Crowley, Liam Gilchrist and Dale Bloomfield helping their side to a comfortable 18-0 lead.

Lepori kept up his red-hot streak – the full-back has scored hat-tricks for club and country recently – when he beat Tom Bergin and Rich Jones to the left corner after 13 minutes.

It got better for Oldham when Crowley collected a ball from Matthew Haggarty to go over in virtually the same spot.

Gloucester had competed well but offered little threat, until Steve Parry kicked through for Chris Vitalini. The prop was unable to gather cleanly with a try beckoning.

That was a big let-off for Oldham, who hit back with two scores in a three-minute spell before half-time.

It was different story in the second half as cracks appeared. Gloucester coach Hepi parachuted in replacements Pat Smith and Pat Evans and they proved elusive characters alongside hooker Parry and six and seven, Mark Barlow and Mark Bradley.

Oldham were unable to build attacking momentum and were guilty of too many handling errors and flat passes.

With an hour on the clock, the lead remained 18 points as Neil Roden was sent to the sin bin for holding down close to his own line.

Moments later, Gloucester, sensing their chance, were back in the game. Barlow dived in under the posts and the stand-off repeated the feat soon after when Smith created himself lots of space on the right.

With Bradley kicking both goals, the deficit was six points and the home supporters, in a healthy gate of just over 1,000, started to get nervous.

Roden's return brought some respite as Tom Whitehead gleefully dived in close to the posts after gathering a pass from the marauding Sam Gee. On-loan Chris Clarke kicked the goal.

With Oldham 24-12 in front, it seemed the game was safe.

But Gloucester didn’t concede. Oldham had been good under the high ball all afternoon, so when Bloomfield lined himself up to collect a punt to the corner with just two minutes to go, there did not seem too much danger.

However, he appeared to get a nudge and Jones gathered possession to touch down.

Bloomfield was unable to contain his frustration and referee Jamie Bloem produced another yellow card.

With the kick successful, Oldham supporters steeled themselves for an anxious finale. They had every

reason to be apprehensive.

Their worst fears were met as Barlow released right wingman Curtis Cunningham, who scooted in.

Facing his most difficult kick, Bradley coolly found the centre of the posts from the right touch-line to bring the scores level, seconds before the hooter sounded.