Half-backs shine amid the gloom

KEY ROLE...Scott Leatherbarrow

OLDHAM'S new half-back pairing of Scott Leatherbarrow and David Hewitt earned the much-changed Roughyeds a hard-fought draw on a cold, wet, dismal day in Barrow.

Stand-off Leatherbarrow, a key man in Scott Naylor's plans, scored an impressive solo try from first receiver; kicked from hand with a direction that was badly missing at Swinton; and landed three conversions from four attempts, his one miss failing by inches to clear the crossbar after he had judged the wind perfectly from the left-hand touchline on a heavy pitch.

Scrum-half Hewitt, whose game awareness and anticipation are his main attributes, laid on the second Oldham try for Jamel Chisholm with a perfectly-weighted kick to the left-hand corner and then, in the dying seconds, lived up to his reputation as an opportunist by intercepting a pass from the back of a Barrow scrum and going unopposed under the sticks.

TRAILED

Leatherbarrow, captain in the absence of Gareth Owen, popped over his third goal and it finished all square after Oldham had trailed 8-0, 12-10 and 22-16 with a side that included four dual-reg youngsters from Huddersfield Giants, average age just short of 22.

Roughyeds travelled with 19, but were reduced to 18 when Joe Burke withdrew before the start, complaining of a sore foot.

Also out were Nathan Chappell (knee surgery), Danny Langtree (hamstring), Liam Thompson (back), Danny Grimshaw (groin surgery) plus Kieran Gill, who won't be linking up with Roughyeds from Castleford on loan until the start of the league season, and Michael Ward and new-captain Owen, who were given permission to fulfill long-standing and pre-arranged family commitments.

The starting line-up included Giants trio Gene Ormsby (centre), Daniel Smith (prop) and Mikey Wood (second-row) with 18-year-old trialist Harry Warburton on the left wing and the back three forwards including a couple of props in Jack Spencer and Ben Davies.

While some aspects of Oldham's performance were better than they were at Swinton, the left-side defence was arguably even worse, and it wasn't good last week.

All five Barrow tries were scored down that side - the first four by pacy winger Shane Toal, a former Scottish under-19 international, and the last one by his centre, Declan Hulme.

In four of those five tries, Roughyeds were too condensed, leaving Toal (three times) and Hulme (once) with enough space on the outside to fly in.

Aided by four of the last five penalties of the first half, Oldham had their best spell just before the break when tries by Leatherbarrow and Chisholm, the first converted by the former London Broncos man, gave them a 10-8 interval lead.

Ill discipline cost them heavily in the second half, Roughyeds conceding six penalties to one and Barrow enjoying scrum ball five times to their opponents' once.

Inevitably, that put Naylor's men under pressure, Toal scoring twice more, either side of a Kenny Hughes try from dummy half, to tie things up again at 16-16.

Hulme's try, goaled by Lewis Charnock, looked to have secured the win for the Cumbrians, until Hewitt popped up from nowhere to square things up.

Once again, opportunity knocked for the ex-St Helens half with the razor-sharp rugby brain.

Scorers -

Barrow - tries: Toal (four), Hulme. Goal: Charnock.

Oldham - tries: Leatherbarrow, Chisholm, Hughes, Hewitt. Goals: Leatherbarrow (three)

Teams -

Barrow: Cresswell; Toal, Hulme, Luxan, Fleming; Dallimore, Charnock; Bullock, Ashall, Walker, Stack, Morrow, Crellin. Subs: Abram, Brennan, While, Litherland, Duerden, Marwood, Dawson, Kelly, Johnstone, Holmes.

Oldham: Turner; Clay, Tyson, Ormsby, Warburton; Leatherbarrow, Hewitt; Smith, Gee, Neal, Spencer, Wood, Davies. Subs: Chisholm, Dickinson, Nield, Joy, Hughes.

Referee: Jamie Barr. Attendance: 520.