Saints finish season with a flourish

Saints defender halt progress.

OLDHAM St Anne’s brought down the curtain on their National Conference League Division Two campaign with a 26-14 win at home to Ovenden.

Saints, featuring youngsters Danny Hurley and Richard Adams in the senior ranks for the first time, got off to a good start.

The visitors conceded three quick penalties before Dominic Igoe barged over the line.

Three minutes later, another under-18s player, James Shaw, stole the ball legally in the tackle to put in Greg Worrall at the corner. The latter also kicked the goal.

The strength of the Saints pack proved too much for Ovenden, with Chris Carter, Carl Fields, Craig Highton and Igoe dominating the game.

Midway through the half, hooker Kendal Davies drew the opposition defence before off-loading to the supporting Shaw for Saints’ third try. With Worrall again finding the target from the touchline, the lead was an impressive 16-0.

On the half-hour mark, Matty Short was denied a try for Ovenden as the final pass was adjudged to have gone forward by the referee’s assistant.

However, three minutes later player-coach Chris Geoghan made the yards for Short to touch down.

Within 60 seconds, Ovenden had doubled their tally. Geoghan was involved again as he put in scrum-half Shaun Smith.

Despite trailing 16-8 at the break and a man down after centre Jason Dodds was sin-binned for a professional foul, the Halifax side reduced the deficit to a couple of points.

Short snapped up a loose ball and showed a clean pair of heels to race 70 metres to score under the posts. Luke O’Mara added the goal.

Dodds returned to the field, only for both sides to lose a man for 10 minutes with Davies and O’Mara sent to the sidelines to cool down after tempers frayed.

Substitute Martyn Swaine registered his first official try of the season — he scored twice against West Bank who have since withdrawn from the league so his efforts have been cancelled out — and Worrall again found the target with another touchline conversion to bring his personal points tally this term to 50.

Mick Fogerty gave Saints some breathing space with an excellent solo effort on the hour mark, leaving Chris Deakin’s side to close the season on a high.

Centre Chris Bell took the man-of-the-match award for an outstanding performance.