Crushing loss as injuries continue

RUNNING HARD: New Oldham man Sadiq Adebiyi tries to break through at Bradford. PICTURES by DAVE MURGATROYD

WITH a long injury list, a much-changed side and a back division that included only Adam Clay of the regulars, Oldham crashed to their eighth defeat in a row at Bradford and finished in the Championship's bottom two.

Dewsbury's stunner against Toulouse and Swinton's thrilling 13-12 defeat of Halifax sent Roughyeds plummeting into the relegation zone for the first time this year with fewer victories than any other side in the competition.

With 11 games to go (including seven in the Shield), Bradford have at last cleared their 12 penalty points, the last two of which have been a millstone round their neck since Easter.

This nine-try whacking of an Oldham side that faces a massive fight to stay up ended a run of nine losses for the Bulls and coincided with Aussie coach Geoff Toovey's first home game in charge after the completion of drawn-out visa regulations.

"It's been a long time coming, but welcome to ground zero," was the message boomed out to more than 3,000 Bulls fans at the end.

They're still nine points behind Oldham and 10 adrift of Dewsbury and Swinton, but on this evidence - and with Toovey working on possible recruitments from Down Under - a big squad and full-time status could enable them to finish the season on a high.

Injury-ravaged Oldham, in contrast, have their backs to the wall and face one heck of a scrap with Dewsbury, Swinton and Rochdale to avoid the trap door.

The Roughyeds' brutal luck with injuries, a curse which struck again in the opening minutes and claimed Jack Spencer and Scott Leatherbarrow, needs to change quickly if Scott Naylor and his shell-shocked troops are to pull off the Great Escape.

Missing from the 17 at Odsal were Scott Turner, George Tyson, Danny Grimshaw, Richard Lepori, Gareth Owen, Joe Burke, Luke Adamson, Jamel Chisholm, Craig Briscoe and Phil Joy, who won't play again this year.

Steven Nield was recalled from Gloucester to play full-back at this level for the first time in two years - and a good job he did too.

It was no fault of his that the collective unit was soft defensively and lacking cohesion and technique whenever they hit the Bulls 20-metre zone.

Execution in the top third of the pitch was extremely poor, allowing Bulls to counter attack from deep and to expose the visitors' defensive weaknesses.

In a well-beaten side, on-loan London Broncos youngsters Kameron Pearce-Paul, at centre, and Sadiq Adebiyi, at prop, did nothing wrong on debut and were two of Oldham's better players.

Six or seven of the 17 were playing their third game in eight days and that didn't help.

But the biggest disruptions of all were caused when Spencer and Leatherbarrow were injured with less than 10 minutes gone.

STRUGGLED

Spencer was heavily tackled on a strong drive and damaged a groin. He struggled on for a short time but he was then replaced, never to return.

Leatherbarrow seriously damaged a lower-leg when tackled near the Bulls line and he was soon replaced by Sammy Gee, leaving the side without its tactical pivot and chief decision-maker.

For more than three-quarters of the game Naylor's men were reduced to two substitutes. Effectively it was 15 v 17 for an hour.

Centre Sam Wood was switched into Leatherbarrow's role, with Gee at centre. That disrupted the hooker's role, with Kenny Hughes doing more minutes than he would have done if Gee had been available to give him a breather.

Nield looked in fine fettle in the first few minutes, but this makeshift Oldham outfit couldn't cope with the loss of Spencer and Leatherbarrow and the Bulls took charge all too soon.

Hewitt missed his midfield partner, while Wood was more self assured in the middle than he was in the early part of the game at centre.

Roughyeds made loads of mistakes and Bulls capitalised to lead 21-0 at half-time with three tries by left-wing Ethan Ryan, another by second-rower James Bentley and two conversions and a drop goal by full-back Oscar Thomas.

They finished with nine tries in total with wingers Ryan (four) and Ed Chamberlain (two) scoring six between them. Bentley finished with a brace and the other came from centre James Mendeika.

Bulls led 35-0 when Roughyeds enjoyed their brief, best spell of the game near the end.

A Wood break produced a try for Danny Langtree, goaled by Hewitt, and a couple of minutes later Hewitt squeezed in, and again added the goal, after re-collecting his own little chip.