Oldham a home victory from the title?

TRY DELIGHT: Oldham full-back Richard Lepori celebrates with Gareth Owen (left) and Jon Ford (centre) after crossing for the opening score. PICTURES by TIM BRADLEY

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OLDHAM 28, SWINTON 16

AFTER more exhilarating rugby league from an Oldham side playing without suspended duo Adam Neal and Sammy Gee, it's time to ask if anyone can stop the exciting Roughyeds winning the League Leaders' Trophy then clinching promotion?

The side will never get a better chance of going up and ending nine years of third-tier bitter disappointment.

If they finally succeed in winning Championship status, never will the ultimate prize have been more richly deserved. Swinton, with nine wins in a row, fancied themselves to win this one and it seemed a likely outcome when they dominated the early part of the second half to turn a 10-0 deficit into a 12-10 lead.

Oldham were toiling, the Lions were roaring and playing good rugby - and a crowd of 1,004, the best at Whitebank for more than two years, held its breath.

Could Scott Naylor's men do it again? Yes they could.

They looked in serious trouble in the second half before finding another gear to rattle up 18 unanswered points with two tries by Danny Langtree, another by Adam Clay and two conversions and a penalty goal by skipper Lewis Palfrey.

Oldham scored 28 points for the third game in a row, creating a club record 12 wins on the spin and virtually clinching top place. For Keighley to pip them, Naylor's men would have to lose at Oxford and Cougars would need to beat Hemel by around 100 points. It's not going to happen.

Roughyeds are almost there thanks to another first-rate team performance, to which 17 players contributed significantly with outstanding individual efforts by Liam Thompson, Gareth Owen, Phil Joy, Michael Ward and two-try Langtree.

Half-backs Palfrey and Steve Roper also played well to shade the contest with Swinton's lively young pairing of Ben White and Chris Atkin.

As pack leader Neal's replacement, Thompson had a brilliant first spell of half an hour and then returned in the second half, with Joy, to turn things round when Swinton were on top.

Whatever job he is asked to do, Thompson does it to the best of his ability, with infectious enthusiasm and usually excellent results. He is playing the best rugby of his career.

Owen also had a blinder, helping to fashion three of Oldham's five tries for Richard Lepori, Langtree and Clay. Owen and Thompson posted early notice of what to expect from them. Owen ghosted out of dummy half, Thompson ran the perfect angle into space, but there was no one alongside him to capitalise with the Lions defence split.

The Owen-Thompson link often threatened the Lions defence early on and it worked a treat again before Palfrey's grubber kick into the in-goal area was pounced on by Roper for a second Oldham try.

Lions rallied, but Oldham defended stoutly in the run up to half-time, when Swinton went close three times.

A touch-judge ruled that Andy Thornley knocked-on before touching down. Then Shaun Robinson flew over in the corner only to be recalled for a forward pass. On the opposite flank, Mike Butt crossed in the corner but only after putting a foot on the touch line.

Oldham were probably drained of energy a little during this period of sustained defending because Lions hit them hard with tries by Ackers and Lever within the first 12 minutes of the second half.

The return from the bench of Joy and Thompson helped Roughyeds to weather the storm and then they regained the lead.

Langtree was growing in confidence by the minute and it was another of his many drives that earned the home side a penalty which Palfrey drove home for an 18-12 lead.

Roper's drop-goal attempt was a poor one, but he quickly made amends with a superb 40-20 up the hill, which led directly to Clay's try in the corner after more excellent work by Langtree and Owen.

Lions were slipping away, Oldham were going stronger by the minute. And it was no surprise when Owen, now playing centre, made a smart inside break to put Langtree in by he posts for his second try.