Union men crash to away defeat

VALE OF LUNE 33, OLDHAM RUFC 7

IT WAS destined not to be for Oldham RUFC even before kick-off of Saturday’s game at Vale of Lune in North Lancs/Cumbria division.

The team was delayed by a crash on the M6 en route to Lancaster, with captain Gareth Barber and several other players only arriving five minutes before the scheduled start time.

The referee delayed kick-off by five minutes but in the abbreviated warm-up, Jordan Green was injured and had to pull out of the side.

Surprisingly, Oldham, who again struggled to win possession in the forwards, did not fare disastrously in the opening period and only trailed 13-7 at the break.

Oldham fell 13-0 behind after 27 minutes to a Neil Foster penalty and tries from Chris Lamb, who peeled off from the back of a scrum to score, and Chris Orrick following a forward drive after a lineout.

But Oldham forced their way back into the game on the stroke of half time when they took a quick tap penalty and Peter Scrivens and Michael Ward set up Ziggy Vatikions who evaded a tackle to score by the posts which enabled Barber to kick the conversion.

Vale of Lune extended their lead early in the second half after a bizarre penalty.

Foster missed his kick only for the referee to order a retake, saying the whistle the player had heard had come from an adjoining pitch. Foster did not miss second time round.

That signalled the start of a crazy 10-minute spell which saw Oldham concede 20 points and any chance they had of victory.

Oldham were still seething from the penalty fiasco when Orrick broke clear and raced 70 metres to the try line to score by the posts for Foster to convert.

No 8 Mike Aboud made a swerving crossfield run to score the next try in the corner and then Foster also broke clear to score the final touchdown.

Oldham were unhappy with two of the tries, claiming they ought to have been disallowed for forward passes.