Controlling stake made life difficult for Swinton

WE MADE a marked improvement last week against Swinton.

We were much better in terms of gaining and keeping control of the game and when we needed to be tenacious, we were. Our defensive effort in the final 10 to 15 minutes was absolutely outstanding.

These things are all positives that it is easy to build on.

In the first 20 minutes of the second half, when we came out strongly, we completed 96-per-cent of our 13 sets.

Under such pressure, you have to give a lot of credit to Swinton for coming back at us near the end as they did.

We didn't take any notice of Swinton's form in the lead up to the game. The fact they had lost six from seven made no difference as they were clearly good enough to get into the play-offs.

In fact, I would say that on paper they are probably the best team in the competition — only they had not really fired yet.

You looked at their bench and saw people like Graham Holroyd, Martin Moana, Craig Ashall and Bruce Johnson there and knew that when it came to the time to bring those guys on, they would improve the side.

But what helped us was that we were able to tire Swinton before that happened so they weren't able to be as effective, while their kicking early in tackle counts also aided our cause rather than theirs.

Lucas Onyango scored again for us and he is something of an enigma. He has a lot to learn but each week will pick up something new and what is more, it will stick.

He is reacting much more quickly now and his positioning is better. The try he scored was fantastic. It came initially thanks to quick thinking from Martin Roden, holding up their markers, and quick hands from Craig Littler. From there Lucas had plenty to do but he finished it superbly.

Neil Roden's 40-metre drop goal was also a superb effort and one he came up with completely on his own. I would like to claim that one for myself, but I can't!

We absolutely believe we can go all the way to the play-off final now. The ticking time bomb for us is numbers. We only have 17 or 18 players so it puts us in a difficult position. But we will give it our best.

tonybenson@oldham-chronicle.co.uk