Hough’s lavish praise for reserves

JOHN Hough's impressive Oldham RL reserves extended their unbeaten run to six wins and a draw when scoring nine tries in demolishing Whitehaven 50-14 at the Whitebank Stadium.

Playing up the slope and into a breeze, they blitzed the Cumbrians in the first half to lead 32-0 at the interval.

"That was the best we've played all season," said Hough. "We played great, sensible rugby and played to our strengths.

“We were never going to repeat that in the second half, but our goal was to outscore them again and we achieved that as well.

"Overall, it was a fantastic result for us and with four games left before the play-offs we are knocking on the door of the top two."

Foundation for victory was a superb all-round performance from the pack, which laid down a platform from which Jamie Dallimore orchestrated the attack with clever kicking and good distribution.

Whitehaven's forwards couldn't cope with the handling skills at close quarters of Alex Thomson and Danny Langtree or the speed and power of Tom Wood-Hulme, who scored two spanking tries.

Others were scored by Zac Cotton, Dallimore, Matty Barber, Steven Nield, Alistair Williams, Terry Bridge and Thomson, while Dallimore landed seven conversions.

New signing Paul Brearley slotted into the side effortlessly on debut at left-centre and was denied a long-range try when pulled back in full flight for a forward pass.

The game was held up for several minutes near the end when Whitehaven forward Richard Farrer suffered a neck injury in a tackle and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

Oldham: Nield; Cotton, Williams, Brearley, Bridge; Dallimore, Connick; Eyres, Hughes, Gilchrist, Dean, Knight, Thomson. Subs: Whitmore, Wood-Hulme, Langtree, Barber.

Roughyeds, third in the table, take on second-placed Leigh at Whitebank on Saturday (2.30), followed by Sheffield Eagles away, Dewsbury Rams at home and Whitehaven away.