Deakin’s salute

STEVE Deakin paid special tribute to a pair of fine performances after Oldham Roughyeds made it to the National League Two Grand Final via a 38-14 home win over Rochdale.

The effervescent Matty Brooks was pipped to the official Co-operative man-of-the-match award by two-try winger Gareth Langley, but the Roughyeds coach was quick to praise the efforts of both.

The only dark cloud on a bright afternoon for Oldham was the loss early in the game of stand-off Neil Roden, who suffered a torn hamstring.

The stand-off is rated as highly unlikely to be fit for the promotion decider against Doncaster at the Halliwell Jones Stadium, Warrington, on Sunday (kick-off 1.30pm).

“Losing Roden so early on could have affected us but I thought we handled it well,” Deakin said, after his side recovered from a 14-12 deficit at the break to thoroughly dominate the second half.

“Matty Brooks was outstanding. He played something like 73 minutes and he really gave us a lot of deception and got us in to the right parts of the park.

“I’m not one for throwing bouquets out, but hats off to Gareth Langley as well.

“He has been criticised in some quarters, but he was absolutely outstanding for us. He isn’t the tallest person but he got up and made two catches and I don’t know where the sniper came from that stopped him from getting a third try.”

Deakin felt his side played well throughout in a vigorous derby contest, save for a short spell before half-time in which forced passes allowed Hornets a spell of possession near the line from which they picked up a pair of converted tries.

“We were outstanding, apart from a four or five-minute spell where we forced the issue at 12-2 up,” Deakin added.

“We felt at half-time that if we stuck to the game plan a bit more and didn’t try to force the issue, staying more patient, we would get field position from where we could build some pressure.

“We got out of the blocks very quickly in the second half and got on the front foot with a score.

“From there on we controlled the second half really well.

“I thought our discipline was good as well. Everybody was quick to write that it cost us last week, but it was good because I think we came in for a little bit of punishment from our shoulders upwards.”