Character and courage

Photo: Graham Lynch Photography

HEADING FOR A FALL . . . Ben Heaton feels the force of a Dewsbury double challenge during his impressive debut for the Roughyeds.

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Patched-up Roughyeds refuse to lie down

Dewsbury 38, Roughyeds 8

ONLY a couple of weeks ago, a result like this would have set the alarm bells ringing.

Not this time. While back then coach Tony Benson and his squad would have travelled to West Yorkshire fully expecting to push the Rams all the way, the recent drama surrounding the club resulted in a swift recalibration of those goals.

The main one switched from winning to simply getting a side out on the field. Anything else was a bonus.

After having his already injury-ravaged line-up hit further by the loss of four players to Barrow on Friday – though one, Danny Halliwell, would have been suspended for this fixture anyway – Benson was forced to name Martin Roden among his replacements’ line-up.

Prop forward Luke Sutton made his first-team debut this season from the bench despite not having trained for weeks and Andy Boothroyd, signed on loan from Sheffield on Friday, also turned out, as did the only fit member of the crop of professionals from the reserves, debutant Ben Heaton.

It was some initiation as well. Coming on when full-back Paul O’Connor aggravated an old ankle injury after only 16 minutes, Heaton – said to be a bag of nerves before kick-off – revelled in the intensity of his first professional run-out, making good runs, tackling well and even producing a half-break that threatened to open the Rams up.

The elder Roden, cousin of Neil and whose last pro appearance was in 2006, rolled back the years with some neat flourishes and Boothroyd, too, looked solid before retiring injured late on.

Elsewhere, Phil Joseph was among those who produced a mammoth stint. He seemed to be involved in almost every tackle against a Rams side who were extremely tough and as well-organised defensively as you would expect from a team that concedes, on average, just over 10 points per game.

Oldham performed well after coming under siege early on and the sheer effort on show when up against adversity, for the second week running, augers well for the rest of the campaign.

Dewsbury almost opened the scoring in the sixth minute and only Liam Finn will be able to explain how he lost control of the ball when under no pressure after crossing the line on the back of a powerful forward drive.

It wasn’t long before the home side were ahead, though, Andy Bostock taking advantage of a Roughyeds error in coming out of the line to exploit the gap and run home, Pat Walker adding the goal.

The next effort was a similar mistake from the visitors, this time on the opposite wing and claimed by Lee Lingard after a Kane Epati run.

There was no lack of effort from the Roughyeds but once again luck was deserting Tony Benson’s men.

Full-back Paul O’Connor turned his ankle when playing the ball on what was an abysmal playing surface and was carried off in obvious pain, replaced at full-back by Heaton.

The next try was another for the marauding Bostock, after Heaton had gamely almost clung on to prevent him from stretching over, with Walker adding a goal shortly before the half-hour for a 22-0 Dewsbury lead.

Tommy Goulden then came close for battling Oldham, knocking on as he tried to touch the ball down while held on his back by two Rams men.

The half at least ended on a positive note for the visitors as Lee Greenwood scored a superb length-of-field try.

A loose ball was pounced on by the visitors and as it was quickly spun left there appeared little room for the former Halifax winger to work in.

A quick application of the afterburner and he was flying past his opposite number down the left touchline, weaving this way and that to fool Rams full-back Lingard before scoring in the corner.

Oldham’s discipline let them down at the start of the second half and Walker knocked over three consecutive penalties for Dewsbury.

It wasn’t until the hour mark that the home team scored again though, some neat hands and a switch of direction seeing Lingard send Bryn Powell over on the right.

Greenwood responded for the Roughyeds, finishing off a right-to-left move close to the Rams line, and the last try of the game came when Adam Hayes sent over hooker Mike Emmett after a tap penalty deep in Oldham territory.


Benson salutes team of battlers

TONY Benson was left feeling proud of his players’ battling performance at Dewsbury, which came on the back of a severely testing period for everyone with the club at heart.

With four players having left to go to Barrow on Friday, Roughyeds coach Benson and chief executive Chris Hamilton had a battle on their hands to scrape together a 17-man squad.

The addition of loan forward Andy Boothroyd from Sheffield and first run-outs of the season for Luke Sutton and debutant pair Martin Roden and Ben Heaton – at opposite ends of the rugby league age scale – ensured the Roughyeds had a full complement.

And despite the 38-8 defeat, there was never any sign that off-field events had resulted in heads going down.

“Considering the week we have had, and the bullets we have had fired at us, there was a lot of character on show,” said Benson, who must now do without the services of transferred key men James Coyle, Andy Ballard, Dave Allen and Danny Halliwell for the rest of the season.

“But character isn’t enough against a team like Dewsbury.

“There was a lack of cohesion on attack which is going to happen when you throw a team together on a Saturday morning.

“We are suffering from injuries and also had players who hadn’t played any rugby, like Martin Roden and Luke Sutton, for a very long time. So they weren’t ever going to last long.

“It is especially difficult on a small field against this team. We ended up running ‘overs’ too much and needed to straighten up a bit.

“We suffered with injuries and all the signs of fatigue, like running overs rather than good lines and tackling too high, were there and it showed that we had empty tanks.

“It is self-fulfilling, as you end up doing things you shouldn’t do because you are tired and then get penalised and have to do more work.

“But I am very proud of the effort that went in and the commitment and attitude of the players, through the weekend going into this game.

“Now what we have said is that this performance is our foundation and we start building on that now for next week’s game against Rochdale.”