Late mistakes proves so expensive

OLDHAM RU conceded 17 points in the last five minutes as they went down 34-7 at Kirby Lonsdale in the North Lancs/Cumbria division.

It was always going to be tough for the local side against their high-flying hosts and their cause was not helped by being on the wrong end of a 14-1 first-half penalty count.

Oldham competed well against a much heavier pack, but slow ball from the scrum and line-out problems meant they were unable to get their running game going.

Kirby were ahead after only three minutes, Cumbria county centre Dave Barton touching down after a series of forward drives.

And Barton added a second try, converted by James Hadwin, after latching on to a failed clearance kick.

Andy Gorey had a try disallowed for Oldham after following up a Gareth Barber kick to the corner.

And they found themselves further behind when scrum-half Hadwin went over.

However, Oldham’s persistence paid off just before the break when Barber was twice involved in a move which also featured Mark Goodman and Kyle Howard.

Barber dashed through from 20 metres for a try which Goodman converted to make it 17-7.

Although the penalty count (9-8) was better after half-time discussions with the match assessor, Oldham suffered a blow when prop Jamie Edwards was sin-binned for allegedly stamping on an opponent.

Oldham defended superbly while down to 14 men but, with five minutes to play, Hadwin landed a penalty for Kirby to make it 20-7.

Oldham were forced to throw caution to the wind and handling errors allowed Kirby to run in two converted tries in the closing minutes of a match in which Adam Waterhouse and Nick Duncan were the pick of the visitors.