We fought hard from start to finish — Oldham coach

AFTER hitting rock bottom against Rochdale seven days earlier, the Roughyeds produced one of their best displays in weeks to give Whitehaven a game at the Recreation Ground.

The score flattered the Cumbrians, for whom the vision and creativity of stand-off Jamie Rooney gave them the edge in a contest which was more competitive than 42-20 would indicate.

Oldham coach Tony Benson said: “Three first-half kicks from Rooney led directly to three tries ... that was the difference.

“In the first half they only got into our 20-metre red zone four times, but they came up with four tries.

“Our intensity was better; our willingness to graft and battle was a big improvement; and we kept fighting all the time, from start to finish. We also stuck to what we had said we would do.

“There isn’t a lot you can do to counter kicks of Rooney’s quality, and there wasn't much we could do about the fourth Whitehaven try when Parker got on the outside of Neil Roden.

“But in general terms we were a different side altogether to the one that played Rochdale. We fought a lot harder; we played as a team; and we put them under a lot of pressure.

“We scored some good tries and we also had chances to score more.”


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