Unbeaten record ended by late try

Photo: Pictures by TIM ABRAM.

OH YES . . . Josh Watson scores the second Oldham try to give his team a useful first-half advantage.

L’Borough 1sts 20

Oldham 1sts 18
A LAST-MINUTE try robbed Oldham of their unbeaten record in North Lancashire Division One.

In succumbing to second-placed Boro, Oldham failed to reproduce their home form and slipped to a defeat which could easily have occurred earlier in the season at Trafford, Birchfield or Didsbury.

Despite the last-minute cry-off of Stuart Brennan, Oldham fielded a strong team and had three clear chances to score down the left-hand side.

But a knock-on, forward pass, a poor decision and spirited defence from the hosts were to prove vital come the final reckoning.

Joe Hesse, starting for only the second time this season, was inspirational and scored a fine try from 25 metres before setting up another for Josh Watson.

With a conversion and penalty by Callum Megram, Oldham looked to be in control but Boro, whose chief attacking threat came from the evergreen Jason Clegg, replied with a superb try via a simple decoy.

Oldham led 15-7 at the break but, facing the hill and wind, knew they were in a perilous position.

The sin-binning of captain Gareth Barber for an alleged dump tackle seemed to galvanize Oldham and they defended well before a clever chip in midfield bounced perfectly for a strong runner to score.

A penalty made it 15-15 before Oldham hit back with their best spell of the game.

Boro defended bravely as wave after wave pounded their line, with Brian Massey making inroads with his strength and Jordan McEwan setting up many attacks with sublime flicks and inside balls.

The latter crossed the line and grounded the ball firmly before being pushed back – photographic evidence showed it clearly – but the referee ruled McEwan put it down short.

A wonderfully-struck penalty from 40 yards by Megram gave Oldham an 18-15 lead with 10 minutes left, but Boro pressed hard, bravely electing to go for the winning try rather than level the scores with a penalty.

And they did just that with a fine handling move by their backs which saw them go over in the corner.

Boro celebrated, but Oldham need to regroup as soon as possible as two similarly-difficult away tasks at Ashton and Thornton are next up.

Their man-of-the-match on this occasion was Hesse for a performance full of pace, power and panache.