Naylor's regret at tardy opening

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

SADIQ Adebiyi tries to break through

OLDHAM RL head coach Scott Naylor couldn't hide his disappointment after a spirited fightback saw his side fall just short of an unlikely win against Bradford Bulls.

Trailing 20-0 before the half-hour mark, they scored 16 unanswered points and were within a whisker of grabbing a victory that would have lifted them out of the bottom two.

But while Naylor was frustrated with the sluggish opening, he admitted he was encouraged by what he saw after that.

He said: "I was really disappointed with the first 30 minutes, but for the next 50 minutes we were great. Unfortunately, we had given ourselves too much to do.

"HANGOVER"

"I think the first half was a bit of a hangover from the Sheffield game last week. We were just a bit soft in defence.

"Then we kind of found ourselves, which was nice.

"We spoke about some things at half-time and I was really pleased with the second half.

"I thought every one of them had a right dig, put their bodies on the line and gave that bit of heart and that bit of passion for the club.

"That's something that might keep us up and it's what has been missing for the past couple of weeks. It's something I've been trying to get back into the lads.

"I thought we were unlucky not to nick a try at the end, but I've got to look at the last 50 minutes going forward, and not the first 30 which was the disappointing bit."