12-try Oldham click into gear
Reporter: by MATTHEW CHAMBERS
Date published: 30 March 2009
Oldham 66, Workington 14
THIS was just what the doctor ordered.
With nerves jangling among supporters and confidence down among the players – by their own admission – a 12-try routing of hapless Workington was precisely the right medicine to bring back the misplaced feel-good factor to the Roughyeds.
In stark contrast to the patchy performances of recent weeks, Oldham found their groove at Boundary Park and made the most of what was on offer. Last week’s defeat at Keighley seems a long time ago now.
After a wretched start, individuals started to shine. Thomas Coyle, one of two-hat trick heroes on the home side, was involved in either scoring or assisting for six tries and generally caused massed panic among the visiting Cumbrian defenders.
As did Dave Allen, who made the game look so easy with his unpredictable running and clever offload game which benefited from his often having multiple options due to keen support play.
It was also a day to remember for the other man to notch a treble of tries, winger Andy Ballard. Now on eight for the season, the former Salford man kicked nine goals to equal the all-time Oldham RL record of 30 points in a single game.
He was only a whisker away from the outright record, too, with one second-half conversion from wide on the right striking a post.
The game started badly from an Oldham perspective.
Home fans could have been forgiven for thinking ‘here we go again’ when the normally-impeccable Paul O’Connor fumbled Steve Roper’s kick horribly, allowing Jamie Marshall to sneak in for an easy try after only two minutes.
Workington’s defensove work throughout left plenty to be desired and Ballard’s response soon after gave an early indication of the visitors’ troubles.
The winger simply barged through two defenders from a standing start to equalise, before Town went back in front when Roper found Mark Hobson running a good line to slice open the Roughyeds defence.
Up to this point, Oldham hadn’t impressed – but that was all to change thanks to a devastating 16-minute spell leading up to half-time.
Phil Joseph sparked the team into life, creating a try for Thomas Coyle with a perfectly-timed pass. Wayne Kerr was then held up over the line before Chris Baines got in on the act and Thomas Coyle worked a neat give-and-go with Allen to stretch the advantage.
llen was next over before Thomas Coyle completed his first-half hat-trick, going through a gap the size of the Channel Tunnel after O’Connor’s burst down the right.
Turning round 34-8 up, Oldham didn’t let up on their demoralised opponents.
Ballard stole in after dispossessing Marshall one-on-one, then Allen found James Coyle keeping pace on the inside after his latest storming run.
The otherwise-impressive Baines gifted a try for Stephen Dawes with a stray pass, but it was still all Oldham.
O’Connor raced to the right corner, swift hands gave Lee Greenwood an easy score on the left and Marcus St Hilaire was next in on the act with a burst of speed and clever dummy.
Finally, Ballard put the finishing touch to the scoring six minutes from time, taking a Paul Reilly pass and turning the tired defence inside out.
