Benson hits back

SEEING RED: Oldham’s Mick Fogerty (third, right) is given his marching orders by referee Craig Halloran. Picture courtesy PA

Oldham coach dismisses March’s claims

TONY Benson and his opposite number, Hunslet player-coach Paul March, came up with very different verdicts following the Roughyeds’ 42-12 defeat in the Carnegie Challenge Cup fourth round.

March implied that Oldham — who had Ben Heaton in the sin-bin on two separate occasions and Mick Fogerty sent off late on for what referee Craig Halloran described through the match commissioner as a “kicking” offence off the ball — came with a plan to illegally disrupt the home side in what was a physical battle.

“They came with a tactic and they nearly got away with it for 70 minutes,” said March, whose side have now beaten the Roughyeds in two out of three contests in all competitions at the South Leeds Stadium in 2010.

“There are parts of our game we need to address and we will do that.

“But they came with a game plan and a certain person let them get away with it for far too long.

“There are a few incidents off the ball I am concerned with as well so we will take a look at that and the right people will take action on it.”

Benson dismissed such concerns and was tempered in his criticism of Halloran — the same referee who brandished and then moments later relinquished a red card for Lucas Onyango when the teams met earlier this season.

The Oldham coach also felt that his team gave up too much ball to Hunslet, who ran away with a contest which was evenly balanced at 20-12 with less than 10 minutes to go.

“We came with a game plan, but it was only to keep the ball off them and stay down at their end of the field,” Benson said.

“There is no question (Oldham were drawn into indiscretions). To be honest, with this referee each time we play with him in charge we end up with this number of penalties against us.

“Then we go back the next week and it goes back to around six.

“So it is something we need to do and obviously it comes down to discipline.

“At this stage I don’t know if we deserved the penalties or not, but you assume the referee is right and that is what I do at this stage.

“To end up with two players down at the end was self-destruction. There are players who can hold their heads up as they didn’t stop battling. Some of them lost the plot.

“We are all different and react in different ways to situations. Frustration is the word of the day, I suppose.”