Heroic Ashe fires up super Oldham

TAKE THAT... a pincer movement spells pain for Oldham’s Marcus St Hilaire. Pictures by GRAHAM LYNCH

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HUNSLET 16, OLDHAM 29

TONY BENSON paid tribute to his side’s powers of determination following the superb defeat of the Co-operative Champion-ship One favourites.

Despite being presented with considerable mountains to climb at the South Leeds Stadium – the first-half penalty count favoured the home side 8-1 and the Roughyeds had two players sin-binned – the visitors dug in and ground out a fully-deserved win.

It leaves the club top of the early league table with two wins from as many games played, both away from home against big-spending sides tipped by some to finish ahead of the Roughyeds.

Matty Ashe was one of the big stars on Friday night, scoring two tries and kicking four goals despite spending most of the game without the benefit of stereo vision.

The second of those tries gave Oldham breathing space, Ashe’s ball-steal and touch down putting the team 24-16 up once the conversion formalities had been completed.

“What I was pleased with was how we dug in,” said delighted Oldham coach Benson, who was able to field Ashe again once doctors had confirmed he had not suffered a detached retina following a poke in the eye.

“We had to cope with a lot of adversity, losing Matty Ashe early on with an eye injury and then losing our hooker Martin Roden at the same time (in the sin bin).

“We didn’t have a half on the bench so it made life very difficult for us. So I was pleased with how we just got on with the game.

“Matty played particularly well considering he was blind in one eye.

“It was a courageous effort from him. It didn’t seem to affect his kicking game and his passing was good, as was his positional play.

“I wouldn’t call it (Ashe’s second try of the game) a turning point but it was a big moment, certainly.

“There were a number of them. Everybody did that little bit extra and it wasn’t a pretty win, but Hunslet won’t allow any team to have a pretty win against them.

“You can’t get a fast ruck and it is a small field so you can’t make a lot of room.

“For us to change from playing Blackwood last week on a big wide field at Sedgley Park to playing Hunslet on a smaller field, I couldn’t be happier.”

Following up successive wins at Swinton in the league and at home to amateurs Blackwood in the Challenge Cup, Benson brought in Paul Reilly on the wing in place of the suspended Mark Brocklehurst and there was a season’s debut from the bench for the returning Jamie I’Anson.

Oldham’s pack dominated throughout with Wayne Kerr and the outstanding Joe Chandler the pick, while Scott Mansfield on his professional debut “tackled the house down” in the words of Benson.

And despite playing with only 12 men for a quarter of the game following yellow cards for Martin Roden and Mick Fogerty, heads never dropped and in the end it was Hunslet’s discipline which was found wanting.

The Roughyeds ran out winners by five tries to three and it could have been more.

Neil Roden’s late drop goal was enough, though, to ensure that the home team didn’t even get a bonus point – a factor which could be important in the season’s final analysis.

After going behind to an early Wayne McHugh try, Oldham hit back when Ashe collected his own bobbling grubber kick and followed up by kicking the first of four goals.

Chandler then used his pace to slice through the Hawks defence off Neil Roden’s pass, Ashe converting, before a superbly-worked team try ended with Fogerty smuggling a pass for Reilly to cross on the left.

By that time, Ashe had left the field injured and Hunslet centre Dave Clayton replicated the try from the Roughyeds scrum-half to pull back to 16-10 on the half-hour.

The flow of penalties continued to favour the home team and Martin Roden tested the patience of young referee Chris Leatherbarrow once too often five minutes from half-time.

That yellow card was followed by another for Fogerty 11 minutes later, but such was the Roughyeds’ determination in defence that Hunslet only managed one try in all that time, Oakes sliding over in response to Ashe’s penalty goal to bring Hunslet within two points at 18-16 down.

Ashe’s clever ball-steal try shifted the balance of power and was soon followed by the solid Marcus St Hilaire sending in Lucas Onyango for a score wide on the right.

Chandler’s break should have led to another score, but he opted for the outside when Paul O’Connor was on his inside shoulder.

That didn’t matter as Neil Roden’s drop-goal rubbed salt into the Hawks’ open wound.