Benson takes positives from Featherstone defeat

HANDS OFF: Oldham’s Chris Baines takes on the Featherstone defence in last night’s Northern Rail Cup quarter-final.

ROUGHYEDS coach Tony Benson admitted that his side struggled to gain a foothold in the defeat to Featherstone.

Oldham exited the Northern Rail Cup at the quarter-finals stage after letting a half-time lead slip to go down 32-18 at Leigh Sports Village.

Benson felt that fatigue and an inability to get past some tight defence at the ruck were big contributory factors in his brave side’s defeat, as three early second half tries earned Rovers the tie.

“At half-time we were definitely in it,” said Benson, after seeing Oldham take a 12-10 lead into the changing rooms. “Our set completion rate was up around 80-per-cent and we were playing reasonably well.

“But Featherstone are really hard to go forward against. They seem to get away with a lot in the ruck – there is a lot of holding up and then flops and hands in there, and all that sort of stuff.

“It put us under pressure as it is very hard to play without going forward first, even to kick.

“We worked hard to combat it and did well at times, but it was very difficult to keep that up all game.

“We showed a lot of character, though. We kept pushing on, kept trying things and most of the things we thought might work did work for us.”

Benson also said that injuries to Paul Reilly (broken nose) and Marcus St Hilaire (hamstring), necessitating a back-line shuffle which saw Gary Sykes moved to centre, didn’t help his side’s cause in the second period.

The loss means that Oldham do not play again until Thursday, June 25, away at York in another televised clash. Had the Roughyeds won last night, they would have been looking forward to a Northern Rail Cup semi-final on the weekend prior to that date.

Added Benson: “We didn’t expect to have that gap. We expected to win last night, so it is back to the drawing board. We have got a lot to work on, but we have time to do it.

“It is another difficult match ahead of us (versus York), but we will be better for the Featherstone game as that was as tough as it will get.”