Roughyeds stagger over winning line

Photo: -Paul Sterritt

ACTION STATIONS: Oldham’s Phil Joy tries desperately to get to the Gloucester try-line.

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OLDHAM 33, GLOUCESTER ALL GOLDS 30

FIRST the positives: Steve Nield’s hat-trick, teenager Tom Dempsey’s touches of real class, George Tyson’s powerhouse centre play and another win to make it five from five.

Nield was neat and tidy on the right wing, twice finishing with aplomb in the corner on Dempsey’s wide passes and also scoring when chasing down Lewis Palfrey’s angled kick behind the line of defence.

In only his third appearance at this level, 18-year-old full-back Dempsey gave a performance rich in promise, highlighted by his try-saving (and possibly game-saving) tackle on Joe McLean with Oldham 28-24 in front; by his catching of several teasing kicks in a tricky wind when under pressure; by his two touchline conversions and a drop goal; and by his long passes that went like a bullet to give Nield the best of scoring chances.

Tearaway Tyson was equally effective in the centre. He threatened a tough Gloucester defence every time he had the ball, to such an extent that it soon became clear he was to be targeted by the visitors.

They were penalised several times for offences in the tackle on the Oldham centre, who did well to keep his discipline in check and thus avoid a potentially costly retaliation.

Now the negatives: slow start, dodgy defence, dozing on Gloucester’s restart kicks and conceding 30 points in a league game at Whitebank for the first time in a year.

Scott Naylor’s men staggered over the finishing line with three points to spare, but only after a few frights and serious concerns that a Gloucester side bristling with energy and enthusiasm might sneak a win that few impartial observers would have begrudged them.

Not many League One teams will dominate Oldham’s forwards in their own backyard, as the All Golds pack did here with a game plan that was designed to slow down everything and to rattle the league leaders by stopping them from playing.

Key to the All Golds’ success was a big performance from his front-row, an intelligent and well-executed kicking game from his halves, Courtney Davies and Matt Bradley, and a willingness of every member of his side to get up into Oldham faces in defence and, in the tackle, to prevent the hosts maintaining any sort of momentum by making their play-the-balls as untidy as possible.

In so doing, they incurred the first five penalties of the game, at which point referee Adam Gill hit them with a team warning midway through the first half.

The penalty count was 16-4 to Oldham – stats which indicate the extent of Gloucester’s indiscipline, but also highlight how defensively dogged they were to restrict the home side to a 33-30 win when they had loads of possession.

Half-back Jack Holmes fashioned tries for Josh Johnson and Sam Gee as Oldham hit back from an early

12-0 deficit to lead 16-12 at half-time.

Each side scored three second-half tries, Nield completed his hat-trick while Liam Thompson added another thanks to the brilliance of Gareth Owen’s approach play.