Seven wins on the spin!
Reporter: Matthew Chambers, Keepmoat Stadium
Date published: 04 May 2010
Doncaster 26 Oldham 46
ROUGHYEDS MAINTAIN THEIR FLYING START
A COMPREHENSIVE second-half demolition provided yet another three Co-operative Championship One points for the rampant Roughyeds.
Tony Benson’s men didn’t have things all their own way at the Keepmoat Stadium – at half-time, the home side led 14-12 and numerous dubious referring calls went against the visitors – but fatigue eventually told as quick play-the-balls and regular rapier-like attacks did for the South Yorkshire side.
The victory is a seventh in a row in the league, Oldham’s best start to a season since the 1972-73 campaign.
The best of the visitors’ eight tries on a chilly South Yorkshire afternoon undoubtedly belonged to substitute Ben Heaton.
Driving out of the block like a 100 metres sprinter, the second row forward pinned his ears back on intercepting on his own 10-metre line and raced down the centre of the field, beating chasing defenders for pace before claiming a superb score.
Matty Ashe, who kicked seven conversions from eight attempts, added the goal to put the Roughyeds 40-14 ahead and effectively out of sight.
Doncaster ran out of steam badly in the second period, though they managed tries in response from Jack Ely and Scotland winger Dean Colton in the final 10 minutes to threaten at claiming a bonus point.
But Dave Ellison typified an intelligent and effective display by the whole forward pack in crossing two minutes from time, calling for a switch ball from Danny Whitmore to crash home and add gloss to another highly professional job by Benson’s boys.
Speed around the ruck was undoubtedly the foundation for this win.
The first half was a close-run affair in which Oldham’s mistakes – often deep within their own territory – were punished by an enthusiastic Dons team who arrived into the game on the back of three successive wins.
The Roughyeds started the game well and scored after only seven minutes when Jason Boults strode through a gap after Joe Chandler had driven to within a few feet of the line.
Neil Roden almost set Mick Fogerty away for the second score but was called back for a forward pass as the visitors continued to exert pressure – but then came the first costly mistake.
Wayne Kerr lost possession when playing the ball in his own 20-metre zone and new signing from Dewsbury, centre Chris Spurr, sent over Scott Wilson on the left, Simon Brown levelling the scores with the boot.
A scrappy period ensued as both teams coughed up the ball regularly, before Oldham found some rhythm with Roden sending in Ashe, who split the line 15 metres out with a clever angled run.
The scorer of that try almost created another soon after, re-gathering his own dink over the defensive line but narrowly failing to send in Ellison with his pass. And Lucas Onyango also threatened to go all the way, bursting from deep before a good tackle from full-back Tommy Griffiths stopped him in his tracks.
Ashe then produced an error at the other end, knocking on when fielding a kick return under pressure, and it led to Doncaster’s second score with Craig Fawcett’s excellent angled kick collected by a leaping Griffiths.
Brown’s second goal levelled the scores at 12-12 and four minutes from half-time, a penalty shot from the same player put the home team two points up.
It would have been more, had strong Oldham defence not held out after being forced to drop out twice between the posts.
Storm weathered, Benson’s men regrouped and were a different proposition after half-time.
The errors and bad discipline were gone and replaced by a side keen to impose their considerable will on the contest.
Five minutes into the second period, Oldham rolled downfield following a rare offside call and a good Luke Sutton drive was followed up by quick ball movement to the left wing, where John Gillam fed Joe Chandler inside him to score, an excellent Ashe conversion putting Oldham 18-14 up.
Four more tries followed in the next 13 minutes as the Roughyeds took the game by the scruff of its neck. First Fogerty piled through a tired Rob Lunt tackle, then Ashe found willing runner Chris Clarke inside him.
Gillam skipped inside from the left touchline to scamper home and Heaton’s magic moment followed, with three more Ashe goals establishing an unassailable 26-point lead with only 12 minutes to go.
Two Doncaster tries followed and Clarke was forced off the field with a nasty cut lip four minutes from time. But Ellison’s late try brought plenty of cheer from the Oldham fans present, who will now be focused on the next game – a possible debut for the club at their new Whitebank Stadium home against York City Knights.
