Against all odds

Oldham player Paul Reilly celebrates his try.

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York 14, Oldham 44

ANOTHER pummelling of a leading promotion rival leaves Oldham on the edge of the finest comeback since Lazarus decided to give life another go.

Had you offered odds of 100-1 to hardy Roughyeds fans on the chances of promotion through the play-offs only three weeks ago, many would have thought twice about parting with the equivalent cost of a sorrowful pint.

This was a seemingly demoralised team that was mentally gearing itself for the off-season and a couple of weeks on a beach in sunny, far-flung climes.

But since the 36-18 defeat at Hunslet on the final day of the regular season — a sixth loss in 10 matches — Oldham have found a renewed vigour, producing winning performances in the play-offs and improving week on week.

First Swinton were edged aside at Boundary Park, then revenge was gained in style against the Hawks.

And in this Co-operative Championship final eliminator at the Huntington Stadium, York were blown away by an opening blitz that completely knocked the stuffing out of the home team.

There can’t have been many prouder men after this 80 minutes than Roughyeds coach Tony Benson, who has now watched his side score just under 100 points in the two most important matches of the season.

Only Keighley stand between Oldham and a return to rugby league’s second professional tier in the play-off final at Warrington on Sunday.

Here, eight tries came through an attack which looked capable of producing a score on every raid into Knights territory, while the defensive efforts illustrated the point that Oldham have located a steely resilience missing in the first half of the season.

Benson was forced by injuries into naming a team that posed pre-match questions — rookie Ben Heaton made only his second appearance of the season at centre in place of Marcus St Hilaire, while Phil Joseph was in for Craig Littler on the opposite side — but any doubts the travelling army of Roughyeds fans had over the line-up were well and truly wiped away in the game’s opening quarter as the visitors flew into a 24-0 lead.

Heaton, excellent throughout, could barely have started the game better than when he took up Coyle’s cut-out pass, holding off a number of tackles to register a great effort in the right corner after five minutes.

Only three minutes later, Coyle sent Chris Baines crashing over, the second row managing to free his arm to extend it over the line, and it got even better on 12 minutes when Tommy Goulden made the most of Sean Hesketh collapsing in agony with an ankle injury, sliding home through the gap on the left.

Heaton then nearly made another as he burst the line down the right before his pass went to ground off a Knights hand. The respite was brief though, as smart hands involving Craig Lawton saw Paul Reilly coming through on the inside to go over in centre-field.

Baines added a pair of conversions and a penalty just after the 20-minute mark to leave Oldham sitting on a remarkable score.

The home side worked their way in the game but had only a single try to show for their efforts before half-time, Chris Clough going over on the left after Gareth Moore had kicked a 40-20.

At 24-4, Oldham couldn’t afford to give York a sniff with the first try of the second half.

So it was that the visitors grabbed one themselves three minutes after the break with the finest set of the match.

From picking up possession in front of their own line, four big drives from a forward pack that was immense all afternoon took the Roughyeds to halfway and from there, a piece of magic saw Coyle throw a dummy and dissect the defence with a change of pace, Reilly on hand inside to skate home under the posts, Baines converting.

John Oakes got the first of his brace after a high kick on the last was allowed to bounce by the Oldham defence.

After Knights stand-off Loz Wildbore had knocked on while attempting to score, Coyle set up Matty Ashe with a lovely inside pass and, once Oakes had got his second in the right corner, a lovely short side play and quick flicked ball from Coyle released Lucas Onayngo.

Ashe put the finishing touches on an accomplished team performance by picking up a loose pass and racing under the posts on the final hooter, Onyango having a bash at the conversion which barely lifted a foot off the ground.

It wasn’t exactly Frano Botica, but only served to leave even broader smiles on the faces of retreating Oldham fans.