Rugby men miss their chance

OLDHAM RUFC missed out on the chance to put further daylight between themselves and the teams at the bottom of North Lancs/Cumbria division following their 16-10 home defeat by local rivals Aldwinians.

And it was a case of what might have been had they decided to kick and not run a couple of first-half penalties.

Oldham were 10-3 ahead at the time and successful penalties would have given the Audenshaw-based side a far bigger deficit to claw back.

But the decision to run the penalties didn’t result in tries so it was to prove a costly misjudgement.

Oldham were also not helped by the loss of former player-coach Steve Molloy who limped off in the first half with a leg injury.

It left them with an even more youthful pack after Molloy was replaced by Jordan McEwan.

Oldham, whose front row of Ziggy Vatikions, Jack Taylor and Paul Wardle was possibly the youngest they have ever fielded, tackled their hearts out.

There were also encouraging performances from centre Michael Ward, scrum-half Peter Scrivens and pack man Joe Hesse.

Oldham, who played with the icy wind behind them in the opening period, ought to have had victory sealed by half time.

Aldwinians took a third-minute lead through a penalty from James Worrall which was quickly cancelled by a kick from Gareth Barber.

And it was Barber who extended the lead with a 15th minute try following a quickly-taken tap penalty from Scrivens. Barber also added the two extra points to give them a healthy 10-3 advantage.

Worrall reduced the deficit with a penalty on the half-hour and Aldwinians seized the lead in the 65th minute when second-row forward Andy Gidman drove over the line following forward pressure.

Worrall later kicked a penalty, though the last 10 minutes saw Oldham camped in the Aldwinians half.

Aldwinians had a player sin-binned, but as much as they huffed and puffed Oldham couldn’t blow a hole through their opponents defence.