In the nick of time!

Photo: Darren Robinson

HANGING ON: Jamie I’Anson (below) looks for support after being caught by two London Skolars players. Picture: DARREN ROBINSON

Roughyeds 28, Skolars 22

PINK was the dominant colour at Boundary Park last night, but the Roughyeds were very nearly left with red faces.

Only a pair of tries in the final five minutes from Thomas Coyle and Lee Greenwood spared the blushes of Tony Benson’s men in this televised clash against a Skolars side who produced 80 minutes of rugby league well above the standard their lowly position in Co-operative Championship One suggested they were capable of.

Following on from a sparkling display against Hornets RL at the same ground on Sunday, it was a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show for Benson’s pink-haired side in a game in which fans all contributed the minimum £1 cost of attendance to charity.

Oldham seemed unable to hold on to the ball in a nervy first-half and as the side from the capital grew in confidence, regularly pinning the hosts down within their own territory, a huge shock appeared to be on the cards.

As it was, Coyle, exploiting a gap in the line after fine work from ex-Skolar Wayne Kerr and Neil Roden, and Greenwood, accepting an inside ball from Jamie Russo after Coyle’s huge raking pass out to the left wing, left the visitors with only a bonus point to show for their worthy efforts.

With only three games left in the regular-season programme, picking up three league points was what it was all about for Benson. But the way his side went about doing so will have made for great drama on television.

Skolars opened the scoring in the fourth minute when Gareth Honor crossed from close in. Paul Thorman added the conversion.

Oldham booted the restart kick straight out of play behind the posts and it set the tone for an error-strewn first half performance.

The bright spot of the opening period from a Roughyeds perspective was Martin Roden’s response five minutes later.

Powerful loose forward Phil Joseph piled across the line with four men hanging off him and as he was forced backwards, he offloaded to the evergreen hooker to touch down his second try in two matches since returning to the professional ranks.

Matty Ashe, who had been laid out on the turf only moments earlier, failed to land the conversion.

The try didn’t signal an upturn in fortune — or ball control, which was shoddy throughout the half with forced passes aplenty, while lapses in discipline gave the visitors plenty of good field position.

Russo involved himself in a set-to with Skolars’ prop Cedric Prizon which saw them both spend 10 minutes in the sin-bin.

Five minutes later Coyle almost made it over the line — before collapsing over the whitewash after the tackle was complete and duly conceding a penalty that typified the muddled thinking of a tense Roughyeds outfit.

It would have been a heftier half-time deficit had Simms not dropped the ball when trying to touch down in the left corner six minutes before half-time, with Thorman missing a penalty shot at goal too.

The impressive substitute Jy-Mel Coleman sent John Paxton running into a hole to increase the visitors’ lead after half-time — Thorman belted over the conversion from the touchline — before Ashe scored a try out of the blue, bursting through the line from 40 metres out after taking hold of a drop-out.

Skolars forced yet more pressure and after Kris Hodson had gone close, Matt Thomas spun and touched down on the left with Thorman’s excellent added goal making it 18-10 to the London side after 54 minutes.

A Thorman penalty increased the advantage before Chris Baines punched a hole in the line that led to Russo touching down on the left, Paul O’Connor goaling to reduce the deficit to four points with a quarter-of-an-hour left.

Another Thorman penalty was answered by Baines finding Craig Littler in space out on the right, after good work down the centre from Lucas Onyango, bringing the gap to a mere two points with eight minutes remaining.

Oldham, finally convincing, poured forward in the latter stages and tries from Coyle and Greenwood sent the crowd home mightily relieved at the outcome.