It’s agony as Oldham go so close

Hutton 1st XV 7, Oldham RUFC 1st XV 5

OLDHAM suffered a narrow defeat in a hard-fought contest in North Lancashire Division One.

The first points did not go on the board until the 65th minute, such was the excellence of the tackling, and Oldham can consider themselves unfortunate not to have achieved a draw.

Josh Brown found himself in the sin bin midway through the first half when he disputed a decision, but the subsequent 10-metre scrum was dealt with as Will Mellor harried the attackers.

At the other end, Jack Taylor made a 40-yard break, but the move ended with a knock-on and the teams went into half-time pointless.

Although Oldham had the edge in the backs, it was Hutton who went ahead in the 65th minute after Adam Waterhouse was sin-binned for coming into the ruck from the side.

With a man advantage, Hutton forced a pushover try through number eight James Brockett, stand-off Adam Wood converting.

But seven minutes from time, Hutton had a man of their own placed in the sin bin for stamping and a a move involving Rob Froggatt, Charlie Roscoe and Joe Cooke ended with Phil Graham scoring.

Unfortunately, Brown missed the conversion attempt and Oldham lost by a narrow margin against a side fourth in the division.

Martin Hamer was Oldham’s man of the match for a strong all-round performance.