Coaches wait for big-match playback

TOUCHLINE TEMPERS . . . the home crowd get a close-up view as Barrow and Oldham players square-up in the later stages of a fiercely-contested Kingstone Press League One clash at Craven Park. PICTURE by DAVE MURGATROYD

DEFEAT at Barrow cost Oldham RL the leadership of Kingstone Press League One and makes it all the more important they pick up maximum points when third-placed Newcastle Thunder come to Whitebank on Sunday (3pm kick off).

A brawl in the dying seconds at Craven Park produced red cards for Oldham’s Gareth Owen and Barrow’s Liam Campbell. Players from both sides traded punches after Liam Harrison scored a last-gasp try to seal a 30-18 win for the Raiders.

The incident was placed on report by referee Chris Campbell and will be studied by the RFL’s match review panel.

Rival coaches Scott Naylor and Paul Crarey said they would have to see re-runs of the incident before they could comment. Naylor said: “When Barrow went over in the corner to score I momentarily turned away so I didn’t see what happened to start it.”

Barrow’s Crarey added: “From ground level it was difficult to see what was going on in the far corner, so we’ll look at the tape and take it from there.”

Keighley’s 52-10 home win against Coventry took them to top spot with a better score difference than Roughyeds, while Newcastle hung on to third place with a 58-12 thumping of Hemel Stags.

Stanley Gene’s Thunder will come to Oldham having lost only one game in six — at home to Keighley.