Young guns fire on all cylinders

Photo: TIM BRADLEY

HAND OFF: Oldham prop forward Adam Neal makes a break.

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OLDHAM 38, COVENTRY BEARS 10

NEW-LOOK Oldham, with debut boys in Tom Ashton, Richard Joy and Tom Dempsey, did a thoroughly professional job in overcoming dreadful weather conditions and a plucky Coventry Bears outfit to make it two wins from two in League One.

The trio of first-timers all came through well, each dropping a positive hint to management that there is a lot more where this came from.

Ashton, at right centre, was an inside back from the old school - dashing, dynamic and direct every time he had ball in hand.

Joy, a prop like big brother Phil, marked his red-letter day with a second-half try, a few clever offloads and a couple of drives that twice carried him over Coventry’s try line only for him to be denied by last-ditch and resolute Bears defence.

Dempsey (18), the youngest player at the club, got his chance at full-back early in the second half and impressed Scott Naylor with his positional play.

Team changes for this third game in 10 days saw no fewer than six regulars rested and a first Whitebank appearance this year by left-centre Jon Ford, who also marked the occasion with a first-half try in the corner.

Steve Nield began the game at full-back for only the second time this year and finished it on the left wing, but not before he had caught attention with some useful kick returns. One of them followed a great catch and an exciting break which turned defence into attack and paved the way for Joy’s try seven minutes into the second half.

Jack Holmes, given a rare opportunity to operate in his favourite position at half-back, scored twice in the first 16 minutes to set Roughyeds on their way to a 38-10 win which, after a load of handling errors in the first half hour, was just as comprehensive as the score suggests.

Kenny Hughes and Nathan Mason got their first starts in the front-row and Josh Johnson (20), a local boy on dual registration from Huddersfield, came in at loose-forward and gave an excellent performance to carry off the Roughyeds’ official man-of-the-match prize.

On the strength of his performance here, where he displayed a maturity beyond his slender years, it was easy to see why the Giants rate him so highly.

Playing with wind and slope, Oldham totally dominated the first half to score tries by Holmes (two), Michael Ward, Ford and Ashton.