Brave Oldham scale an incredible height

WHICH WAY NOW? . . . George Tyson in full flight

THE irony may not have been lost on the travelling Oldham faithful that the infamous Mount Pleasant slope may be a reflection of their side's uphill fight against Kingstone Press Championship relegation.

Well, there is no doubt that Scott Naylor's men scaled great heights to overturn a 22-point deficit in West Yorkshire to earn a vital point in their survival scrap - against all the odds.

Defending the slope in the first 40 minutes, the omens for the Roughyeds were not good when Jack Spencer got trapped in the in-goal area following the kick-off and in the next set of six, Wayne Reittie was held up just shy of the line before fine hands along the line involving Dave Scott paved the way for Adam Crookes, to bundle his way over.

Minutes later, Adam Clay's handling error gave the Bulldogs another opportunity to threaten the visitors line and Patch Walker's offload saw Dane Manning force his way to the whitewash.

In the Roughyeds' first foray of note, Scott Leatherbarrow's bomb was diffused by former Batley sparring partner Dom Brambani near his own line, but normal service was resumed when Brambani showed his attacking instincts by taking Walker's pass in his stride, before leaving George Tyson in his wake to race for the line unchallenged.

EFFECT

Minutes later, Manning and Dave Scott combined to great effect as the Batley full-back shrugged off the attentions of Luke Hooley to notch the home side's fourth try.

Then the fightback. Oldham finally grabbed a foothold in the clash when good work from Luke Adamson saw Michael Ward bulldoze his way to the line for a trademark score.

The visitors were buoyed by the try and the Roughyeds cause was given a helping hand when Joel Farrell was sent to the bin for a flop.

With Batley back at their full complement after the break, Oldham gave themselves a glimmer of hope when Sam Gee clipped a ball forward on the last tackle and the ball ricocheted off a retreating home defender near the posts before bouncing back into the hands of the kicker, who touched down.

Minutes later, the Roughyeds reduced the deficit to four points when an errant home pass was latched on to by Ben Morris, who intercepted smartly on his own 30-metre line before showing the home defence a clean pair of heels to race under the posts unchallenged.

The visitors were sniffing victory and they got themselves back on level terms when Leatherbarrow's up-and-under saw Clay in an aerial duel with Shaun Ainscough.

The Oldham winger came out on top to notch the try - although Luke Hooley's awkward conversion drifted wide of the sticks.

With the game on a knife-edge, Dave Hewitt planted a drop goal attempt, which hammered against a post before falling kindly into an Oldham hand, but the pressure was released on the hosts when Spencer spilled the ball in the next set of six.

There was still more drama to come as Oldham fans were left on the edge of their seats when Reittie looked to have turned the game in the home side's favour when he latched on to a kick forward, but he failed to ground the ball under pressure from visiting defenders.

Perhaps a Batley score at that stage would have been tough on the gritty Oldham players, who were given a good hand at the final whistle by both sets of supporters following their superb second-half display.