Humbled on the Humber

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

OUCH! Oldham’s Chris Clarke stops Hull stand-off Richard Hall in his tracks at the KC Stadium on Saturday.

Hull 82, Oldham 0
A HURRICANE flew over the KC Stadium on a day in which Oldham’s Carnegie Challenge Cup campaign was emphatically blown to pieces.

The World War Two fighter plane provided a terrific sight, marking as it did the anniversary of the two worst nights of the Blitz of 1941.

The city of Hull took a real pounding, with more than 300 bombs dropped by the Germans 70 years ago. At least the Roughyeds’ heavy loss was confined to the sporting field.

It was hardly unexpected that Hull FC would rack up a big score. Coach Richard Agar had opted to field a very strong line-up in a bid to maintain the continuity which has seen the Airlie Birds rise into the Super League play-off positions with a series of impressive recent displays.

And as far as Oldham coach Tony Benson was concerned, with 11 men missing through injury, suspension and unavailability — Danny Whitmore dropped out on the eve of the tie — damage limitation was the name of the game, with more realistic challenges lying ahead in Co-operative Championship One.

To that end, the most striking blow amid the whirlwind of points scored against an extremely inexperienced Roughyeds outfit — the home side racked up 15 tries in total, with centre Jordan Turner bagging a hat-trick against his hometown club — was the late injury to John Gillam.

The winger was assisted off the field with a suspected broken foot, joining fellow wide man Lucas Onyango on the sidelines as a long-term concern.

On the plus side for Benson, for the likes of debutant pair, full-back Stephen Nield and stand-off Jamie Dallimore, plus substitute Michael Ward, who has only one first-team appearance to his name, this fixture will have provided some harsh but valuable lessons.

None of Oldham’s players disgraced themselves in a game played out with the repeated whistle of referee Chris Leatherbarrow conspicuous by its absence.

Dallimore in particular showed some neat flashes early on, while Nield was faced with the unenviable task, which he didn’t quail from, of trying to halt wave after wave of pacey Hull attacking breaks.

The closest the Roughyeds got to a try of their own was in the opening moments. After Ben Wood had defused Richard Horne’s high bomb, Shaun Robinson’s cross-field scamper almost made a try for Wood in the left only for the ball to pop free 10 metres from the try line.

After that, the flow of the game was almost exclusively one-way. Hull enjoyed a lot of joy early on, punching holes through the middle before throwing the ball wide to run home some clinical scores.

Sam Obst and Turner both romped home in the opening 10 minutes and some poor defence allowed Obst to wriggle through four minutes later.

A superb Epalahame Lauaki pass then helped create a well-worked score from deep finished off by Danny Houghton, and a searing 80-metre dash saw winger Will Sharp flying in for an exceptional individual effort.

Richard Whiting was dead-eyed with his goal kicking and Oldham were facing a 30-0 deficit after only 20 minute as Hull burst impressively from the blocks.

Actually gaining possession was a major task in itself for the visitors. Improved defence saw Benson’s men defend three drop-outs in a row, prior to the pressure paying off in the guise of Turner’s second.

Willie Manu dropped the ball when racing home under the sticks — credit to Nield for not giving up the chase — and the rearguard effort meant only one further try followed in the opening period as Whiting pounced close to the line, maintaining his 100-per-cent conversion record to see Hull into a 42-0 interval lead.

Martin Gleeson went over himself six minutes into the second half, with Whiting missing an attempt for the first time.

Substitute Reece Lyne added another as the profitable left-sided attack continued to supply points aplenty, before slick skills from Horne saw him slice through once again.

Sam Moa’s try and Whiting’s simple conversion left the home side 64-0 up after an hour. And Lyne managed another when slipping between a pair of very tired tackles.

Three tries followed as the game entered its closing stages. Whiting extended an arm over the line, Lee Radford profited from confusion caused by Whiting’s swirling kick and Turner completed his treble in the left corner, Whiting ending the game with a personal tally of 30 points and missing four second-period conversion attempts.