Saints stun promotion hopefuls

OLDHAM St Anne’s produced a superb performance to turn the form book on its head and win 12-10 at promotion challengers Castleford Panthers in National Conference League division one.

Saints enjoyed most of the possession in the first half and after falling behind to an early penalty, a Danny Kay break on the half-hour was followed up by the supporting Paul Ashton, who handed on for Chris Carter to score. Ashton converted for a 6-2 lead.

Panthers came out strongly at the start of the second half and were soon close to the visitors’ line, but a pass that went stray fell into Ashton’s arms and after racing upfield, he handed on to half-back partner Lee Forsythe who went in from 40 yards. Forsythe converted his own effort.

The home team finally found gaps to go over for two tries in the final 10 minutes, but Saints held on and were deserving winners.

Prop Alex Eyres worked tirelessly up front to gain the man of the match award and was followed closely by his team-mates Danny Kay, Paul Ashton, Lee Forsyth and Ryan Blake, as St Anne’s put two successive defeats firmly behind them.

Waterhead also secured a superb away win, defeating Stanley Rangers 33-16 despite struggling to even get a team out.

Terry Fitzgerald was the star of the show, scoring a hat-trick of tries, kicking six goals and a drop goal for a personal tally of 25 points.

“The character we showed as a team was really pleasing,” said coach Mick Slicker, following the win at a side who previously stood third in the division two table.

After recovering from conceding an early try, Waterhead took a 14-10 lead into half-time thanks to a pair of tries and three goals from Fitzgerald, outstanding along with half-back partner Paddy Slicker.

Despite playing up the slope after the break, the visitors withstood the pressure applied by Stanley and Fitzgerald’s hat-trick try, which he also converted, extended the lead to 20-10.

Fitzgerald added a one-pointer before Paul Bennett, coming off the bench following a long-term injury, went in for another with Fitzgerald again adding the extras.

Alan Williamson then made the game safe before the home team went in for a late consolation try.

Up and down Saddleworth Rangers suffered another disappointing home defeat, losing 15-6 to Stanningley in division one.

Once again Rangers were architects of their own misfortune, conceding too many penalties while not converting good chances in the second half.

To cap a miserable afternoon for home coach Keith Brennan, forward Matt Bottom broke his jaw and is now set for an extended period on the sidelines.

“It was very disappointing and we can’t keep on going win one, lose one, because we are better than that,” said Brennan, who was without the services of Adam Clayton and Simon Parrish among others.

The game reached half-time as a 0-0 stalemate, before the visitors from Leeds opened the scoring with a converted try which was then followed by a drop-goal.

Fraser Coley’s try, scored in the corner after good quick hands across the line, was converted by Rangers’ man of the match Michael Coates to bring the deficit back to a single point at 7-6.

Three chances went begging in the game for Saddleworth – one try was disallowed for a forward pass and they were also held up over the line twice – and the visitors went on to wrap things up with a converted try and a penalty.