Another one that got away — Benson

TONY Benson said Oldham’s 24-22 defeat by Workington Town at Whitebank yesterday left him with contrasting thoughts and emotions... bitter disappointment at the result but pride in his players for the way they battled to the end.

“This was another one that got away,” said the Roughyeds boss. “Workington were big and physical right across the park. There are a lot of bruised bodies in the Oldham dressing room right now. Danny Bravo did 25 tackles in the first half alone and there were others not far behind.

“There were five separate occasions in the second half when the next team to score would win the game. It was as close as that.

“We would have liked to get the ball out wide more, but before you do that you have to go forward and Workington wouldn’t allow us to do that.

“Workington played well and applied a lot of pressure on us. As a consequence we tried to score off early plays in the first half and succeeded only in giving up a lot of ball.

“Considering how much ball we had given up I was not too concerned at half-time when we trailed 6-14, but with use of the slope to come.

“We showed a lot of character in the second half to draw level at 16-16, but an Oldham victory wasn’t to be and now the lads are feeling battered and bruised.

“In terms of losing so much possession in the first half it wasn’t a case of how often we spilled the ball, but where we spilled it. It was often close to our line or at the very least in our own quarter.

“We soaked up a lot of Workington’s pressure, but not enough.

“If we are going to win this competition we must learn how to cope with pressure like that, conquer it and then fight back.”