Benson: I am a proud coach

Proud: Tony Benson

TONY Benson saluted the fighting spirit of his players after the Roughyeds completed a memorable double over Blackpool.

Mick Fogerty’s last-gasp winning try puts Oldham five points clear of the Panthers in second spot in Co-operative Championship One.

A sixth win in a row, the thrilling 24-22 victory leaves Benson’s men as firm favourites to at least claim the top spot in the end-of-season play-offs — but no chickens are yet being counted.

“It was a fantastic result,” said a beaming Benson. “It was one of those games with a lot of emotion in it as it meant a lot to both teams, season-wise.

“The great thing is we showed that when we are under the pump, we can bring it out and fight to the end.

“It is a good sign and it is good for confidence for the players, coming through like that.

“There are plenty of improvements we can make to our game. I don’t think it was the prettiest game we ever played.

“But there was a lot of good stuff there. And you have to be pretty good to beat Blackpool.

“(The race for the top) is certainly far from over, because they got a bonus point from it. It is still a difficult run, as we have only got two more points on them.

“As I said before the game, this was one important game of five we have left.

“Each is as important as the other and we will celebrate this then straight away start focusing on the next game.”

At various points in the contest Blackpool appeared to hold the aces, but stout defence and a sharp cutting edge in attack — never more so than when Paul O’Connor completed his hat-trick by getting on the end of a superbly-worked set play near the posts — earned the visitors a deserved three points at Fylde RUFC.

And the sheer will to win again shown by his players earned accolades from Benson.

“They showed a lot of spirit and played for each other,” he added.

“I am a proud coach at the moment and I am sure there were a lot of people at the game who feel the same way.

“I told the players before the game to bring nothing back with them to the changing rooms, to give it everything they had out there. And they certainly did that.”

Benson also paid tribute to the efforts of a number of individuals, starting with full-back O’Connor.

“How do you do that every week?” Benson said. “As well as Paul O’Connor, Gilly (John Gillam) played well, Valu (Bentley) put in some big stints and Wayne (Kerr) and Elly (Dave Ellison) made a big difference when they came into the game.

“Marcus (St Hilaire) had a fantastic game I thought, as did Rat (Neil Roden) who was playing with a really sore

back. He played through it, which was fantastic.”