Benson salutes superior Hornets

TONY Benson, the Oldham boss, acknowledged that Roughyeds were well beaten.

"Rochdale deserve total credit," he said. "They played a very good game, and they didn't allow us to play.

"We got off to a poor start from the kick-off and that set the pattern. We made another error a couple of plays later and we were 12-0 down after five minutes. It's always going to be hard work from there.

"We started to get back into the game, but it was only briefly and then we fell away again. That was due to the fact that Rochdale put us under a lot of pressure.

"They seemed to get every bounce of the ball, but that was because they were rolling forwards. That happens when a side is on top. You make your own luck. Rochdale made theirs and duly capitalised. We were under pressure for long periods."

A delighted John Stankevitch, celebrating his first derby win over Oldham as Hornets coach, said: "Knock-out rugby is about getting the basics right, and I'm happy to say we did that.

"I always felt that if we could get those right we had the players to see us home.

"We kicked drop goals and penalties in the second half because you've got to accept opportunities which you are handed on a plate, especially in knock-out rugby.

"We also set out our stall to dominate up front and that's why I used five front-rowers, rotating them every 15 minutes."