Champion effort

Oldham players and coaching staff celebrate grand final victory over Widnes.

Oldham 29, Widnes 24
Roughyeds Reserves win championship trophy

PRE-SEASON cups apart, Jamie Knight became the first Oldham captain in eight years to get his hands on a trophy when Houghie's heroes beat Widnes Vikings 29-24 at Whitebank yesterday.

More than 600 fans — a bigger attendance than at some first-team games this year — roared on John Hough's men to a nail-biting grand final triumph in the Reserves Under-23s Championship.

B-J Mather, former Wigan star and now head of player development at the RFL, gave Roughyeds' half-back Jamie Dallimore his man-of-the-match award before presenting the championship cup to Knight after a thrilling final contested by two evenly-matched sides.

It was Oldham's first taste of silverware in an RFL competition since 2003 when the second team won the same trophy by beating Doncaster at Manor Park in the final of a similar tournament.

The difference this year was that Oldham, after 18 games, finished second behind Super League-bound Widnes in a 10-club division that, with three exceptions, comprised the under-23s of clubs from the Championship as opposed to Championship One.

"Our reserves fully deserve every bit of recognition they get,” said a delighted Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton.

Left-winger Terry Bridge scored three cracking tries and had another long-range effort disallowed because he put a foot on the touchline as he rounded the full-back at top speed in the second half.

He came close to winning the man-of-the-match prize, chosen by the press, but it went instead to Dallimore because it was the half-back's instinctive and exciting attacking play in midfield which edged the final Oldham's way.

It was a great day for these former Wigan St Cuthbert's team mates, who scored 25 of Oldham's 29 points between them — 12 by Bridge and 13 by Dallimore with a drop goal, four conversions and a crucial try on the stroke of half-time.

Scrum-half Tommy Connick also played well behind an Oldham pack that worked hard as a unit to counter the threat of Widnes's massive forwards, and in particular their two starting props, Dave Houghton and Alex Gerrard.

A third Vikings forward, the strong-running Jack Smith, came off the bench to become the final's second hat-trick hero, his two tries up the slope keeping Vikings in the game and Oldham on red alert and under severe pressure for the last seven or eight minutes.

They managed to hang on thanks to a terrific defensive effort, led by skipper Knight and involving every other member of the pack who was on the field at any given time.

Oldham were a trifle fortunate to be on terms at 12-12 before they began to get a grip on the game in the run-up to half-time with a Dallimore drop goal and a typical solo try, which he also goaled.

In the second half Smith's second and third tries kept Oldham on tenterhooks, but Dallimore once again came up with the goods to send in Alex Thompson with a beautifully timed pass and then to set up Bridge's third try with a perfectly-measured kick.

You could say it was Dally's day.