O’Connor sings Oldham’s praises

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN: Wayne Kerr makes a break for Oldham.

Gateshead 10, Oldham 68

PAUL O’Connor scored twice in his 100th game for Oldham at Gateshead yesterday . . . and then spoke of the debt he owed Roughyeds for saving his rugby league career back in 2006.

The former Widnes full-back had three games on loan to Oldham that year before returning to the Vikings, who didn’t offer him a new contract.

He said: “I seriously toyed with packing in, and made plans to travel the world. Then Roughyeds got back in touch and said they would like to talk to me again after my trip. The rest is history.”

Four years and a ton of games later, fans’ favourite O’Connor led out the team and soaked up the applause of supporters before playing a major role in his side’s 12-try stroll on the banks of the Tyne.

Back in the dressing room, another job done, he added: “There have been some tough times at Oldham — like losing three Grand Finals in a row — but experiences like that make you stronger.

“When I first came to Oldham never in my wildest dreams did I think I would be staying, but I’ve loved every minute of it, and I’m still loving it.

“Today was the perfect sort of game for a celebration because there was lots of space and plenty of opportunities to run, which is what I enjoy most.”

Roughyeds are going to face tougher challenges than this before the season is over, but to score 12 tries at any level takes some doing.

Defensively there were odd lapses, exposed mainly by Thunder’s livewire substitute Will Bate, who scored the first of his side’s two tries from dummy half and twice bust Roughyeds up the middle.

On the second occasion, when Tony Benson’s men were caught dozing at a tap penalty, he brought out the defensive best in O’Connor, who was promptly sin-binned for holding him down too long.

Thunder lacked nothing in honest endeavour — and in Oldham-born half-back Nigel Scott, reared on rugby at Waterhead, they had one of the hardest-working backs on view.

He toiled tirelessly to impress against his home-town team, but he fought a losing battle in a side that had neither the clout nor the nous to offer a serious threat.

The home forwards couldn’t handle the likes of Wayne Kerr, Dave Ellison or replacement hooker Danny Whitmore.

Ellison’s offloading often created space to be exploited by O’Connor, halves Matty Ashe and Gregg McNally or the explosive Whitmore.

Ashe and McNally each played the major part in the build-up to five tries, operating as twin pivots on either side of the field.

The biggest beneficiary was the lethal Mick Fogerty, who scored Oldham’s first two tries early on and then completed a well-deserved hat-trick when he finished off a superb move to cross in the left-hand corner near the end.

If Fogerty and O’Connor were Oldham’s most dangerous runners and finishers, few backs did more work than Lucas Onyango or produced more of the little touches that reveal genuine class than Marcus St Hilaire.

Fogerty (two), O’Connor, Onyango and Whitmore all crossed Thunder’s line in the first half.

O’Connor’s try was the pick of the bunch thanks to an Ellison offload and clever inter-passing by the latter and Ashe.

Ashe’s final pass sent in first Chris Clarke, then Ben Heaton and then Kerr early in the second half, before Roughyeds rammed home their superiority with further touchdowns by O’Connor, Fogerty, Whitmore and finally Ellison.

In this spell McNally showed his class with beautifully-timed passes to lay on three of those tries.

Not a bad day, then, for Oldham — or their half-backs.


Roughyeds half-backs at full throttle — Benson

SPOILT for choice at half-back, Roughyeds boss Tony Benson played Kiwi Matty Ashe and on-loan Gregg McNally at Gateshead to the exclusion of the more experienced Neil Roden.

With Ashe operating on the right and McNally on the left, the halves played key creative roles in setting up 10 of their side’s 12 tries between them to each earn Benson’s nod of approval.

“They went pretty well,” he said, “and it’s good to know that we have quality like Neil (Roden) sitting in the wings.

“There is a lot of competition now for the half-back spots and on this occasion I just opted to go with Matty (Ashe) and Gregg (McNally).

“Matty did well considering that a calf muscle began to give him problems early in the game when he needed treatment on the field. He later damaged his collar bone which meant he had to come off in the second half. He was in a lot of pain.”

It was Roughyeds’ first game in three weeks and Benson thought their overall performance was significantly better than the one they produced in similar circumstances earlier in the season.

He said: “Defence was good apart from two lapses, one of which was caused by a bit of confusion in transition and readjustment when Matty Ashe came off injured midway through the second half.

“On attack our go-forward was strong and direct and we generally took the right options and finished strongly. That’s how we came to score 12 tries.

“We were a little bit too quick to kick on occasions instead of putting the ball through hands, but in terms of effort and attitude we were top-notch.

“Set-completion rate was 75-per-cent and of the sets that began in our half an exceptionally high 80-per-cent were completed in their 20-metre zone. I’ve got to be happy with that.”