Oldham leave comfort zone

TWO-UP . . . Kieran Gill takes up possession and races home for his second try

DEFEAT at Halifax and Whitehaven's astonishing 56-12 win at Dewsbury has plunged Oldham into a relegation dogfight.

Workington are down and either Whitehaven, Oldham or Swinton Lions will join them in League One next year.

And here we were thinking that Roughyeds were virtually certain to be safe by now, on the back of a win at Halifax or defeats yesterday for Workington, Whitehaven and Oldham at Sheffield, Dewsbury and Halifax respectively.

Whitehaven put the cat among the Roughyeds pigeons, turned the form book upside down and lived to fight another day with a typical 'silly season' triumph at Dewsbury Rams. How dare they? That was never in the script.

They'll now come to Bower Fold on Sunday (3pm) fancying their chances of cutting Oldham's lead to one point and taking the scrap into the last day of the season when they entertain Swinton and Roughyeds go to Dewsbury.

In that scenario you'd have to fancy the Cumbrians on home soil and Oldham would need to pick up only their third away win of the season against a Championship club to stay in the division.

Far better for Scott Naylor's men to finish the job at Bower Fold this Sunday - arguably a game with more riding on it than any other since the 2001 play-off semi-final against Widnes at Rochdale when Oldham were one game away from Super League.

They lost that, can they win this?

Yes, of course they can. Survival is still in their own hands, they still have three points more than the Cumbrians and they will have home advantage at a venue where Whitehaven, Dewsbury, Batley, Sheffield, Featherstone, Swinton and Workington have all been beaten this season.

First, though, they must quickly get over the bitter disappointment of this their latest defeat at Halifax, a bitter pill to swallow because they led 18-8 early in the second half .

To let a lead like that slip in such an important game is bound to lead to self-doubt, recriminations and a serious loss of confidence.

But take the emotion out of it, look at the hard facts and you get a clearer picture of what happened and possible reasons for the late collapse in which Fax breezed home on a wet sail and with 24 unanswered points.

As a well established Championship side, Halifax always looked the better balanced, more dangerous attacking side.

They were sharper and more creative at half-back , they had a better kicking game and although it took them a long time to win the arm wrestle, once they broke free they scored with relative ease.

They were particularly dangerous down their right side - Oldham's left - where Richard Lepori and Kieran Gill struggled to hold Nick Rawsthorne, Ben Johnston and Ben Heaton.

Sheer determination, dogged defence and the will to win kept Oldham in it up to half time and then enabled them to take a handy lead with two quick tries on the resumption, against the balance of play it has to be said.

That Oldham enjoyed a 10-point lead at that stage was all the more creditable because Liam Thompson was struggling with a shoulder injury and Danny Langtree was playing on one leg.

Roughyeds were also taking a caning on the penalty count - 5-3 first half, 8-2 second half, 13-5 overall.

Figures like that are a worry. It meant Roughyeds had more tackling and chasing to do than the home side and it was probably the extra load that caused the big fade-out in the final 20 minutes.

Fax scored six tries to three and in the last quarter, when Oldham visibly tired and faded out of the contest, they ran in points at regular intervals.

Oldham's first try was a gift. Fax winger Will Sharp lost the ball in a heavy tackle close to the home line and Gill picked up and went between the posts.

The second was also Gill's - this one a trademark, length-of-the-field interception at a time when Oldham were under severe pressure just after half-time.

Kenny Hughes grabbed the third from dummy half after a strong raid by the forwards in which Joe Burke was stopped on the line.

Scott Turner and Lepori didn't look comfortable together at full-back and wing respectively and they were responsible for the first Halifax try when they each left a high kick to the other and it directly resulted in a try for Heaton in the corner.

Rawsthorne scored the second after quarter of an hour, sent through a gaping gap on Oldham's left by Ben Kaye and Johnston.

Battling Oldham were 18-8 up by the time the home side scored again 12 minutes into the second half.

Turner couldn't hold a high kick and from the scrum Rawsthorne produced a quality piece of centre play to get on Gill's outside shoulder, pull Lepori off the wing and give Heaton his second walk-in at the corner.

Three minutes later, with Oldham again under heavy pressure, Turner misfielded a Johnston grubber to present Miles Greenwood with a gift try which Gareth Moore converted, replacing Rawsthorne as marksman.

At 18-18 Gary Middlehurst, playing centre, was tackled into touch just short and Lepori, who had now switched positions with Turner, took a great catch, followed by a strong clearing run.

Oldham spirits were temporarily raised, but not for long. Mitch Cahalane broke up the middle, Johnston went with him to release Greenwood and Roughyeds were penalised for holding down.

Moore's penalty gave Fax a 20-18 lead and Oldham heads dropped. The home side finished them off with tries by Scott Murrell and Adam Tangata.