Early errors prove costly

Jason Boults powers through the Swinton defence, but to no avail

SWINTON LIONS 29 OLDHAM 20
ROUGHYEDS defied stubborn second-half resistance from Swinton Lions and a bitterly-cold wind in The Willows to salvage a Northern Rail Cup bonus point at Salford yesterday.

They trailed 20-6 at half-time and at that stage nobody would have been surprised if the lively Lions had piled on another 20 points or more.

Oldham needed a big defensive effort to counter Phil Joseph's power, Ian Watson's guile, Martin Ainscough's speed and Rob Foxen's size and strength, but in the first half at least Benson's men didn't even get close to producing it.

They began well enough, repelling several Swinton raids before taking the lead with an excellent try in the corner, finished well by Mark Brocklehurst and superbly fashioned by the equally-impressive Marcus St Hilaire.

Mick Diveney added the goal from the touchline for an early 6-0 lead, but that was the last anyone saw of Oldham as an attacking force until the second half.

For the remaining 30 minutes of the first period, a lethargic-looking Roughyeds were ripped apart.

Chris Clarke tackled with venom and Jason Boults tirelessly carried the ball forward.

But the side, as a unit, looked short on passion, determination and desire, particularly when defending. Not enough players worked hard off the ball to plug gaps; openings appeared all over the show; a play-maker like Watson, fulcrum of the Lions' attack, savoured every delicious minute.

In five horrendous minutes for Roughyeds, Foxen, Ainscough and Richie Hawkyard crossed Oldham's line — and a few minutes later Gavin Dodd went in for a fourth Swinton try.

The Lions played with confidence, skill, speed and verve, but the ease with which they sliced Oldham open — both up the middle and out wide — was a worry for anyone with a Roughyeds' allegiance.

Dodd, receiving from Watson, had loads of room to break out wide on the right and send in Foxen for the first try. Ainscough capitalised on a left-flank raid to score the second.

Watson and Neil Rigby found gaps up the middle to put full-back Hawkyard under the posts before Watson and Rigby produced an encore to get Dodd over out wide.

Clearly shell-shocked, Roughyeds needed to go into the second half with, at the very least, a more determined and aggressive outlook. It was to their credit that they did just that.

Assisted by five penalties in a row, they finally put their opponents under real and sustained pressure for the first time in the game.

Ben Wood, who had an eye-catching second half, terrorised the Lions defence on the right.

But it was Neil Roden's ability to kick cleverly to the left side that created two tries for winger John Gillam in the 51st and 54th minutes.

At 20-16 Oldham were deservedly back in the game and looking more than capable of going on to win it.

Lions had a Lee Wingfield try disallowed for a forward pass, but there was no denying them when Joseph threw off a couple of defenders before feeding Darren Hawkyard to go over.

Refusing to lie down, and by this time looking far more like Roughyeds pre-Halifax, the visitors again put the outcome in the balance when Wood sent Brocklehurst crashing over in the corner for his second try.

At 24-20, with ten minutes to go, the result could have gone either way, but the Lions clinched a worthy win with a Dodd drop goal and a second try by the former Oldham player in the last minute.