Team warning as Owen suffers in the sin-bin

HELPED OFF . . . Oldham half-back Steve Roper exits the field

SPEAKING after the game, referee Joe Cobb confirmed that he issued Oldham with a team warning midway through the second half after they had conceded a string of penalties.

Dewsbury were leading 34-6 and pressing hard when Cobb felt the need to signal 'team warning' against Roughyeds after he penalised them for slowing down a Rams play-the-ball near the corner flag.

Then, in a triple whammy, Steve Roper was helped off the field with a calf injury; Danny Grimshaw followed a couple of minutes later with a smashed nose; and soon after that Gareth Owen was shown a yellow card after what looked like a very determined man-and-ball tackle on an opponent twice his size.

Asked about the team warning and the decision to send Owen to the sin-bin, Cobb said: "The two were linked. The team warning was because of the sheer number of penalties Oldham were conceding. Then there was a high tackle from the Oldham player and bearing in mind his team was already on a warning that's why he was sin-binned."

Rams lost seven of their previous nine games before pulling off a narrow win at Bradford last week thanks to a long-range penalty goal by Paul Sykes with the last kick of the game after the final siren had sounded.

Sykes followed up with an impeccable display of goalkicking here ­- nine goals from nine shots (seven conversions and two penalties), which included three off the touchline.

Said coach Glenn Morrison: "Oldham are a good side; they're tough to beat. But we took a lot of confidence from our win at Bradford and we got the job done."