Coach hails ‘tremendous’ Roughyeds

Photo: Anthony Miller

TRYING TIMES . . . Chris Clarke (head guard) is all smiles after putting the Roughyeds in front.

SWINTON boss Steve McCormack was quick to laud an Oldham performance which gave the Lions a massive fright.

“This was the best game we’ve had all year,” he said. “And Oldham were absolutely tremendous.

“They were quick, fresh and caused us a lot of problems.

“The game could easily have gone away from us, but a few cool heads saw us through.

“We lost our shape in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but Phil Joseph changed the game when I put him back on.”

Tony Benson, Oldham’s coach, was “gutted” by the result, but proud of his side’s performance.

He said: “Swinton were there for the taking and our defence was so good that we tied them down — no mean feat against the Lions.”

Benson had words of comfort for Neil Roden and Ben Heaton, both of whom elected to kick on the first tackle with Swinton reeling in the closing stages.

He added: “Some decisions we made at crucial times were perhaps not the best ones, but if those first-tackle kicks had come off, the players who made them would have been hailed as match-winning heroes.

“Players make decisions in the heat of the battle after 80 minutes of hard slog and I will always back them for their initiative.

“In this case they looked at the scoreboard clock and mistakenly believed that they were on the last play of the game.

“They played to the clock and it probably cost us the game.”