Oldham RU defeated at Ashton

Oldham RUFC travelled to local rivals Ashton, but fell to a 20 points to eight defeat.

Several changes were enforced with a number of injuries from the previous game and other non-availability in key positions there were three second team players added to the team.

Andrew Hurley, Henry Nicklin and Chris Brown were asked to step up.

Unfortunately for Oldham, Brown picked up an injury ten minutes before kick off in the warm up which meant Assistant Coach Jack Sayle stepped up from the bench, leaving Oldham at 17 players for the match.

The game started with Oldham initially having early possession, however, the home team opened the scoring against the run of play with a try from the right wing which went unconverted.

This fired the home team 5-0 up.

As the conditions worsened on a soft pitch the next 20 minutes turned into an arm wrestle with Oldham struggling to maintain possession long enough to get a grip on the game.

Oldham finally answered back with one of the rare forays into the Ashton half and won a penalty which Alex Jobson kicked to bring the scoreline to 5-3.

The Oldham pack struggled at their set piece which didn’t allow the backline any decent front foot ball to attack with.

Ashton, however, seemed to enjoy the conditions better and made inroads whenever they had possession and scored what turned out to be a pivotal score just before half time.

They attacked and scored down the left edge with Oldham’s tackling being poor allowing the ball carriers of Ashton to make inroads behind the gain line and this led to Ashton scoring in the left corner.

With the touchline conversion successful the halftime score had the home side up 12-3.

Oldham turned with the wind now at their back and feeling that the game was there for the taking, but Oldham needed to take hold of it by the scruff of the neck.

Unfortunately, Oldham did not and again the encounter turned into a number of turnovers in possession and penalties in the home sides favour as the visitors became frustrated and again and again played with no pattern or system.

Oldham had a chance to score on the Ashton line but seem to panic and couldn’t make the pressure turn into points as the home side defended resolutely and eventually earned a clearance to frustrate the visitors.

To compound this Ashton worked their way straight up into the Oldham half and won a penalty which was kicked to increase their lead to 15-3.

Oldham now were in serious need of a comeback and needed points quickly.

With ten minutes remaining Oldham finally scoring their first try as Phil Conroy scored in the corner following several minutes of Oldham pressure on the home team’s line.

The try was unconverted, so Oldham now trailed 15-8.

With the clock ticking down Ashton gained possession and Oldham could not wrestle it back from them and the hosts took the chance to add another try to their tally to leave the final score at 20-8.

It proved to be a lacklustre performance from Oldham who failed to keep possession for any decent periods of time and never got a hold on the game.

Tom Jowle, Sean Carter and Josh Semple in the back row toiled and worked all day with Semple being voted Oldham’s man of the match.

With just one home game left until the Christmas break Oldham need a much-improved performance to lay this one to rest.

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