Coyle springs into life

Photo: Stephen Gaunt

ALEX Davidson dives in to record Oldham’s second try, and is mobbed by his team-mates (top) after reducing the deficit to 18-12. PICTURES by Stephen Gaunt, touchlinepics.com

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HUNSLET 38, OLDHAM 12
NOT that Oldham needed any reminding, but it was forcibly hammered home to them at Hunslet that it is going to be as tough as ever this year to win promotion from Kingstone Press Championship One.

Given that two clubs went up last time and only the winners of a top-five play-off will be elevated to the second tier this season, Scott Naylor and his young squad knew the enormity of their task long before they took a second-half pasting on a beautifully manicured South Leeds Stadium pitch.

Hunslet’s 38-12 triumph strengthened their grip on top spot; inflicted Oldham’s first league defeat of the season, and generally gave a pretty good indication of why the Hawks are regarded as the team to beat in this year’s chase for honours.

Oldham lived with them in the first half and were still in the game when trailing 18-12 approaching the hour, but they faded badly in the last 20 minutes when the home side took complete control.

A couple of inexplicable first-half howlers by Josh Crowley and Ben Wood, at a time when a tight game was in the balance, was a sign of things to come.

Crowley made a superb break on Kenny Hughes’s inside ball, but with only Stuart Kain to beat and Tom Whitehead up in support, he was caught and tackled by Kain.

At 6-6, Oldham were set to attack the Hawks line from a tap penalty, but Wood took the ball on the mark and flung it inside without first tapping it to restart play.

Referee Peter Brooke had no option but to order a scrum with head and feed to a relieved Hunslet, while Oldham’s frustration continued to grow.

Full-back Whitehead, who could so easily have opened the scoring, did well in the first half. But his confidence seemed to drain after he failed to defuse a wicked James Coyle bomb straight after half-time.

Stand-off Coyle kicked his former team-mates to death. The Hunslet pivot, a slick handler and a shrewd kicker, was key to the Hawks’ game and once he had forced the error from Whitehead he made the full-back’s life a misery. Coyle’s was a man of the match performance, highlighted immediately after Oldham had pegged back the home side to 18-12 with an Alex Davidson try following a powerful break by Michael Ward.

Mo Agoro failed to drop back on the last tackle of a Hunslet set and Coyle spotted the Oldham winger’s lapse to produce an inch-perfect 40-20, from which the home side increased their lead with a try from dummy half by Matthew Tebb.

Not to be outdone, Lewis Palfrey produced an equally impressive 40-20 when Roughyeds were 16 points down and urgently in need of a try to claim a bonus point.

But the touch judge mistakenly ruled out the kick as too long and stuck to his guns despite protests from the Oldham team.

With only six minutes left, this latest mistake in a game of many bizarre incidents probably wouldn’t have altered the result, but there was every chance it might have cost Oldham a bonus point.