Roughyeds on cloud nine

Photo: CHRIS SUNDERLAND

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Loose-forward Phil Joseph, who was immense for Oldham, powers his way towards the Hornets line.

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Roughyeds 48, Hornets RL 28

Vibrant Oldham find their form

IT is as if somebody flicked a switch somewhere.

From being a team liable to enter snooze mode at any moment in a season marked by inconsistency, suddenly Oldham have transformed into a side brimming with vigour.

A great time for it to happen, too, with only four regular season matches now left in Co-operative Championship One.

And all it has taken is a healthy helping of boardroom disruption, an alleged betting scandal and the shipping out of four of the squad’s brightest talents.

Suddenly, somehow, the magic is starting to happen for Roughyeds coach Tony Benson. You could sense a shift in the past two weeks, both of which ended in defeats at home to Keighley and away to Dewsbury, but also featured a tangible fresh sense of purpose and determination.

The difference with those two performances was that the high effort levels weren’t necessarily always channelled perfectly.

At Boundary Park, come the visit of neighbours Hornets RL for a typically rambunctious derby, that all changed.

Nine-try Oldham, now captained by ex-Rochdale man Tommy Goulden, were typified on the day by the performance of loose forward Phil Joseph.

Clearly, opponents won’t like him when he’s angry. After confessing to Benson that he wasn’t best pleased with the way he went about his business at Dewsbury, the ex-Huddersfield man performed as if auditioning for a role in a hard-to-believe action movie.

Hornets players were regularly shrugged off his powerful frame like rag dolls and the amazing try on the half-hour summed up not only Joseph’s blue riband day but also the team’s.

Tackler after tackler — there must have been at least seven — were passed through as one-man wrecking machine Joseph shifted direction and bounded infield from the left.

From dummy-half, Martin Roden turned back the years in his second outing at hooker since dusting off the old boots, producing a dummy that sent Hornets full-back Mark Brocklehurst scampering into the nearby car park in search of the man in the scrum cap, who slid over between the uprights.

Another goal from debutant Matty Ashe, who ended with four in total, put the home side 22-6 up at that stage and left the result in little doubt.

It is fair to say that Hornets coach Darren Shaw would have been disappointed with some abject defence on his side’s part, particularly in the first half, but there was no denying Oldham were playing with real brio.

The tempo was set five minutes in with a flare-up between the outstanding Neil Roden and — you guessed it — Hornets prop David Best which went unpunished, save for a penalty to Oldham.

The home side regularly took advantage of such gifts before half-time and tries from Chris Baines and Lee Greenwood — following some evasive running by Paul O’Connor — were answered by the first of winger John Gillam’s hat-trick, Hornets scrum-half Liam McGovern kicking the first of his four goals to make it 12-6 after 16 minutes.

Dayne Donoghue was then sent to the sin-bin and Oldham took advantage through a Goulden try and Martin Roden’s sizzling effort, before Baines helped make it 26-6 at half-time.

Another superb try arrived four minutes after the restart. A great break involving Joseph, O’Connor and Martin Roden ended with the ball being spun left for debutant centre Jamie Russo to stroll home.

Hornets responded strongly and claimed quick-fire tries through McGovern and Gillam, before Oldham claimed a swift pair of their own when Craig Robinson and Neil Roden scored, the latter following a great chasing down of his own deflected kick from Joseph.

Neil Roden then produced a brilliant saving tackle on flying winger Leroy Rivett, forcing him into touch, before Joseph and Best were invited to the sidelines for a temporary spell after the most minor of spats with 13 minutes left.

Neil Roden had time to create another for O’Connor, extending the lead to 48-16, before late tries from Hornets duo Gillam and McGovern rounded off the highly entertaining proceedings.


Benson’s ‘pride’ after emphatic win

TONY BENSON believes the way in which Oldham took apart their old derby foes with a performance full of heart, relentless enthusiasm and no little skill bodes well for the end-of-season run-in.

The Roughyeds ran in nine tries against Hornets RL to move back up to third in Co-operative Championship One, a place and one point behind York but with a game in hand and a home clash against the Knights yet to come.

After the traumas of the past couple of months, Benson could barely hide his delight at the way a refreshed-in-spirit Oldham set about their business, but admits there is still work to be done ahead of the season’s final four matches.

“Pride was the main feeling we got out of today,” Benson said.

“We are proud not only of the team, but of the club and everybody who has pitched in.

“That performance is for everyone, including the supporters, (chief executive) Chris Hamilton, the office staff who have worked so hard to get us back and obviously the players themselves.

“We said beforehand that we wanted to lay a foundation for ourselves in certain areas of the game, that we could take each week and build on from here.

“We are sort of starting again here. We are all disappointed about the 20 minutes where we leaked too many points, as a result of losing control of the game.

“But we learned from that and got back into it again at the end, which was good.

“We had a specific plan and we stuck to it. It came off for us and that was really good to see.

“There are little things to work on, like the penalty count again (13-9 in Rochdale’s favour, compared to 18-8 in Dewsbury’s favour last week). That is two different referees we have had now and it can’t just be their fault, so we have to look at ourselves in that respect.

“Retaining possession was good, our field position was good, our kicking and chase was good as was our play around the ruck, which was varied and created plenty of opportunities. It is encouraging.”

Seven days earlier at Dewsbury, Oldham lost four transferred players on the eve of the game and there was disruption again ahead of this one, with two men pulling out at short notice leading to a recall from loan at Swinton for Craig Littler — playing despite a fractured arm — and another impressive run-out for out-of-retirement hooker Martin Roden, the club conditioner who scored a great try on the half-hour.

“Gary Sykes pulled out in the changing room at 1.30pm, having injured his back at work,” Benson added.

“We also had Marcus St Hilaire missing, injured on Saturday morning at training.

“Chris (Hamilton) managed to get Craig Littler in for us and it is just as well, while Martin Roden stepped into the breach – and he did ok, didn’t he?

“I can’t say how happy I am for the club, as I really think we have taken our first steps back.”