First step on the way — Benson
Date published: 07 February 2011
OLDHAM'S players won’t be crowing about their 28-22 Northern Rail Cup defeat of Championship side Hunslet . . . coach Tony Benson will see to that.
While fans celebrated in the clubhouse after this third win from three outings at the Whitebank Stadium this year, Benson stressed that he and the players will be keeping feet planted firmly on terra firma.
“We won’t be reading too much into this,” he said. “We have merely hurdled the first of four obstacles towards the goal that we have set ourselves for this competition.
“There are still a few things we can do better. Sometimes we took wrong options instead of getting to the kick in any given set and if we had done that I think we would have won even more convincingly.
“The defence picked up in the second half and I was really happy about that. We must have defended multiple back-to-back sets three or four times, and that says a lot about our character and a lot about the benefits we are gaining from all the hard work we put in during the off season. It’s starting to pay dividends.
“The commitment was spot-on. To concede from a kick as early as the third minute and then to go 12-0 down inside quarter of an hour must have been heartbreaking for the boys.
“But they kept battling up the hill, kept their discipline and forced their way back into the game. Effort was shared by all 17. Everyone gave his all.
“We matched them for power — that’s what their game is all about — and we had more skill.
“John Gillam, Lucas and Ben Heaton did a great job as our back three. Hunslet targeted Neil Roden and ran at him whenever they could to tire him out, but he had another top game and Mick Diveney, his half-back partner, supported him well.
“The support we got from the fans picked us up when we were under heavy fire. That was one of the first things the boys talked about when they got back into the dressing room.”
Hunslet player-coach Paul March said Oldham were the better team and added: “They were smarter than us —and they played to the conditions better than we did.”