Benson: We were dumb

OLDHAM boss Tony Benson will try to find out this week why Roughyeds have suddenly developed a puzzling tendency to nod off in defence for a while for no apparent reason.

Benson's men have always prided themselves on at least going flat out for 80 minutes and making opponents toil and sweat for every point they scored.

But after an excellent Northern Rail victory over Hunslet, weak second-half defence cost them dearly at Halifax and Roughyeds again had their fans wondering what was going on when conceding three tries in five minutes and four in ten during an awful first-half spell in a 29-20 defeat by Swinton Lions yesterday.

"A couple of decisions went against us, and heads dropped," said Benson.

"That's becoming something of a problem. We fell off our game for 15 minutes, just like we did at Halifax, and we got punished for it.

"Swinton, a good side, can score tries from anywhere, but we showed in the second half that we can contain them. We took a good look at ourselves at half-time, when we trailed 20-6, and there was improvement in the second half, but we had left ourselves too much to do.

"The second half wasn't great, but it was a lot better than the first. The bounce of the ball didn't go our way, but it rarely does if a side isn't on top of its game.

"I can't fault the effort, but we did some dumb things at crucial times."