Super Gillam stuns Hawks

Oldham 28, Hunslet 22
LEFT-WING John Gillam's stunning long-range try five minutes into the second half was itself worth the admission money as Oldham got their Northern Rail Cup campaign off to a flier at Whitebank yesterday.

Valu Bentley and young centre Jack Bradbury combined beautifully in a left-flank raid deep inside Oldham's half before Gillam raced away up the touchline and swept past Hawks full-back Stuart Kain on the inside to score spectacularly under the posts.

Mick Diveney's third conversion from four attempts established a 22-12 Oldham lead — and the rampant Roughyeds were well on their way to a cup upset.

Hunslet won three of four meetings with Roughyeds last season, including an embarrassingly easy 60-4 hammering of Tony Benson's men at the same venue last May.

But this was a different Oldham team to the one that took a pasting back then — bigger, meaner and better equipped to turn Whitebank into an intimidating fortress.

Having accounted for Rochdale and Whitehaven in pre-season games on the same ground, Roughyeds were again worthy winners against a side that finished top of Championship One last year to earn automatic promotion.

Only seven of yesterday's Oldham team were in the side when the March brothers piloted Hunslet to an astonishing 11-try triumph nine months ago.

In that game, unlike this one, the Hawks didn't have to cope with Ben Wood and Bradbury in the centre, Neil Roden and Mick Diveney at half-back and Luke Sutton, Andy Isherwood, Paul Noone, Bentley, John Clough and Tom Wood-Hulme in the forwards.

This was Benson's horses-for-courses selection plan geared to the specific requirements for

beating Hunslet on a narrow pitch that, at best, was going to be heavy and, at worst, might cut up.

It worked like a charm.

Oldham had enough maturity to match Hunslet's experienced outfit while also boasting a clutch of exciting youngsters of whom much is going to be heard this season.

Ben Heaton had a blinder at full-back, two-try Bradbury looked a tidy prospect in the backs, scrum-half Diveney played a key role well and Wood-Hulme hurt the Hawks forwards with his battering-ram charges.

They formed part of an impressive team performance led by Neil and Martin Roden, with major contributions from Noone, the classy-looking Clough and Jason Boults.

Roughyeds fans feared the worst when Hunslet went 12-0 up inside 14 minutes with tries by Stuart Kain and Tommy Haughey.

The game changed dramatically when David March was sin-binned for using his knees in the tackle and Benson simultaneously threw on Boults and Clough off the bench.

Noone had earlier got Oldham back in the game by sending in Bradbury at the corner — and once Neil Roden and Clough began to find room to move up the middle they combined cleverly more than once to put Roughyeds in charge.

Tries by Clough, Diveney and Gillam sent Hunslet reeling, but the visitors were never going to throw in the towel and Roughyeds had to defend tenaciously to hang on to their lead.

Bradbury took off the pressure by scoring his second try off Neil Roden's high crosskick to keep Roughyeds out in front despite late tries for Hunslet by David Clayton and Andrew Yates.