Benson blasts penalty count

TONY Benson blamed Oldham’s indiscipline in the first half for a disappointing performance in a 42–16 defeat at Barrow.

Benson’s men were penalised seven times in the first 40 minutes and 11 times in total, for a variety of offences but mainly for high shots or untidy defending at the ruck.

Roughyeds are not on their own in taking a pounding at Craven Park this season, where Raiders are unbeaten in the league, but Benson expected his men to be far more competitive.

“If you give away penalties and surrender territory against a side like Barrow, you are going to get killed,” said the Oldham boss.

“You can’t win without the ball, and in the first half we didn’t have it.

“We knew we needed to play them as much as we could in their half, but we gave away dumb penalties - five in a row in the first 20 minutes.

“Too many penalties meant we had too much defending to do and that caused us to tire, which in turn produced errors —simple as that.

“When we cut them out later in the game we dominated for a spell, scoring two late tries and going close on other occasions.”










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