Roughyeds spirit sees them home

Photo: Pictures ANTHONY MILLER.

Neil Roden gets Oldham going forward against Hornets.

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OLDHAM 16, WORKINGTON 14

Benson’s men make it four wins in a row

PHYSICALLY drained by the exertions of two matches inside four days, Tony Benson’s Rough-yeds somehow resisted a strong fightback by a fresh Working-ton side to record a fourth win in as many Co-operative Championship One games.

This was a similar clash to the derby at Hornets RL on Good Friday, with Oldham taking the lead, stuttering in the second half and then squeezing out a victory towards the end of the 80 minutes.

Here at Sedgley Park, though, visiting coach Gary Charlton will certainly feel that his side should have emerged with all three points rather than just a single bonus.

For much of the second half it was one-way traffic as Town had a strong wind pushing them on.

And had visiting scrum-half Scott Kaighan kicked a conversion to his side’s second try, Workington would have held a 12-10 lead in the game’s final quarter – and, quite possibly, the psychological edge.

As it was, Kaighan pulled his effort from a fairly central position narrowly wide of the uprights.

From there, with the game level Oldham summoned the energy to bound downfield.

Prop forward Dave Ellison produced a powerful burst and on the back of it, Neil Roden’s dabbed kick to the corner was pounced on by a delighted Mick Fogerty, scoring the second try of his afternoon.

Matty Ashe converted and with 13 minutes left the Roughyeds held what turned out to be a decisive advantage, with Neil Frazer’s try in the right corner with two minutes left proving to not be enough for the Cumbrians.

Following on from the 22-16 win at Spotland, Benson kept faith with the majority of his team with only the injured Scott Mansfield making way for Paul Reilly on the substitutes’ bench.

And Oldham began the game at a strong pace which briefly threatened to blow Workington away.

A big hit from hooker Martin Roden – who again manfully played the majority of the game at acting half – dislodged the ball from the grasp of prop forward Kris Coward.

From the resulting scrum, Oldham swiftly moved the ball to the right and in-form winger Lucas Onyango used his pace to surge through the line and open the scoring in the first five minutes.

Soon after, the Roughyeds doubled their advantage. After Workington stand-off Liam Finch was sent to the sin-bin, for nudging into the back of referee Tim Roby, Fogerty spun out of a tackle from close range to place the ball over the line, Ashe adding the conversion.

Then came a near half-hour of no scoring. The home team gradually lost their way as the game went on in terms of attack, though defensively they were solid with the visitors rarely threatening.

Brett Carter brilliantly held up Joe Chandler over the line and Workington will have been glad to hear the half-time hooter and came out for the second period refreshed in body and mind.

For Benson’s men the opposite was true and the ball was regularly spilled to enable Town to build up a head of steam.

It eventually paid off when Kaighan sailed through a gap in the line just before the hour after a good weaving run from Aaron Low and it took only three minutes for another score to arrive after Kaighan’s sole conversion, Mike Whitehead taking on Finch’s pass and extending an arm downwards in the tackle.

Kaighan really should have nailed his goal attempt and was made to pay for such profligacy when the home team responded through Fogerty, Ashe goaling for a 16-10 lead.

Both sides could have gone over after that, Low held up over the line at one end and Paul O’Connor dropping in the act of scoring at the other.

Then came Frazer’s late effort, which wasn’t enough for unlucky Workington.