Danny rising to the challenge

DANNY Halliwell has been quick to play down his terrific individual effort in Oldham’s fightback win against Workington Town. 

The 27-year-old, who has been flying in National League Two of late, instead heaped praise on his team-mates.

Halliwell’s 28 points — he scored four tries and kicked six goals — came close to equalling an Oldham RL all-time record of 30 in a game set by Abe Johnson 80 years ago.

With goal-machine Mick Nanyn nursing a thumb injury, it has been left to the former Leigh man to take over the kicking duties for the Roughyeds and he has risen to the challenge in the run up to the play-offs.

Halliwell said: “The other players did fantastic to create the chances, I was just there to finish off the moves.

“Trailing 16-0, we gave ourselves an awful lot to do, but the coach pointed out a few things and the players responded in the second half.

“I’ve scored four tries in a game before, but I have never kicked that many goals.

“I’ll go out and kick three or four in the warm-up, but it is not something I practice a lot. I just put the ball down and try to do my best.

“I don’t feel under any pressure, because people expect Mick Nanyn to kick the goals, not me.”

Halliwell has blossomed in the second-half of the season and credits his red-hot run — his four tries took his tally for the campaign to 17 — to cementing a settled position in Steve Deakin’s promotion-seekers.

He explained: “I was switching from the second row, to centre to the wing and it was quite difficult to adjust. But in the last few weeks I’ve played in the second row and my confidence has come back. I feel as though I’m ready to reach my peak.”

The players are enjoying a few days off before they return to training on Sunday. Two weeks later they will duel with either Keighley or Doncaster at Boundary Park, with a place in the Grand Final on September 28 the prize for the winners.

The play-offs are nothing new to Halliwell, who experienced both ecstasy and agony in NL1 Grand Finals while at Leigh.

Oldham, who were favourites to gain automatic promotion before the season started, will be seen as the team to beat.

But Halliwell warned: “A couple of times we’ve put ourselves under pressure by having some big deficits to make up.

“But we can’t afford to do that against the stronger sides. We’ve got to start well and push home our advantage.

“Having a good rest will recharge the batteries, so we can come out again with all guns blazing.”