Goulden aiming to inspire Roughyeds

Tommy Goulden

TOMMY Goulden has got what it takes as a leader of men.

That is the verdict of the tough second row’s coach Tony Benson, who appointed the ex-Rochdale star as new team captain following the departure of previous incumbents Robert Roberts and James Coyle and the current unavailability of injured prop Paul Highton.

Having taken on the mantle at Dewsbury four games ago Goulden has led his troops in a series of gutsy displays, the latest of which was a well-earned draw at Blackpool.

It was a result rescued from a seemingly hopeless position. But sheer hard work and single-mindedness, epitomised by the captain, served Oldham well against the play-off hopefuls.

“Tommy Goulden is simply doing for us what he does every week — leading by example,” said Benson.

“All the players have been doing likewise, in fairness, over the past three or four weeks. At Blackpool, there was nobody left in our changing room after the match who had anything left to give.

“As for the overall captaincy situation, it is one that I will have to give some thought to.

“We don’t know when Paul Highton will be back yet from injury, while Tommy has played through some tough times for us and kept pushing us on.

“You could say if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

That verdict will come as welcome news for Goulden, who says the challenge of taking on the role of team leader has “hopefully helped produce better performances”.

The 28-year-old scored the third Roughyeds try in the space of nine second-half minutes which brought his team to within a whisker of parity against Blackpool, having been 30-14 down with less than 20 minutes remaining on the clock at The Woodlands.

Chris Baines’s cool conversion of that effort brought the visitors level, a result preserved by Goulden’s charge-down of Carl Forber’s late drop-goal effort.

The result — a first draw for the club since the 20-20 stalemate away at Featherstone Rovers in National League One in March, 2005 — wasn’t enough to prevent Keighley from jumping above the Roughyeds and into second place in Co-operative Championship One.

And it was that fact which left a sour taste in the mouth, despite the sterling efforts.

“We are disappointed we didn’t win the game, overall,” Goulden admitted.

“We did show good team spirit to come back from 30-14 down in the second half and at that stage if we had been offered two points, we would have taken them.

“It was one of those things. We showed good team spirit to get those three late tries and come away with the draw.”

Only a win this weekend at home to York and a Keighley slip-up at home to Hunslet is likely to keep alive the Roughyeds’ hopes of finishing the season in second place.

On the side of the equation Oldham can control, Goulden feels there is unfinished business to take care of at Boundary Park.

He was, and is, convinced that he touched the ball down late on in the televised 20-18 loss at the Knights earlier this season, a video referee decision that could end up making or breaking the entire season.

“It was definitely a try and I was gutted about it,” Goulden added. “Watching on the video, you couldn’t quite see it clearly but I always thought the benefit of the doubt should go to the attacking side.

“That is gone now though and we have to concentrate on this week and get some good training sessions behind us.

“We are upbeat as a squad at the moment and with the team chopping and changing we have to get the formula right, up our game and build some consistency to head into the play-offs with.”