Bamboozled by veteran duo

LOOKING FOR SUPPORT: Oliver Roberts prepares to fire out a pass for Oldham at Cougar Park

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KEIGHLEY COUGARS 32, OLDHAM 24


KEIGHLEY ran away with the first half; Oldham dominated the second.

But when you analyse this game and get down to the brass tacks of the Roughyeds’ 32-24 defeat, it was due largely to the guile of the home side’s golden oldies, Paul March and Paul Handforth.

Scrum-half Handforth in particular had a blinder. The 33 year old twice old-headed Oldham’s soft defence to score two tries from close range with little room to work. Expecting him to look for support, defenders stood off and were mesmerised as he strolled in by the posts, each time adding the goals.

Player-coach March, two years his senior at 35, played himself at hooker in the absence of the injured James Feather and opened the scoring with the first of Keighley’s six tries in the third minute.

Lewis Palfrey had a clearing kick charged down at the end of Oldham’s first set and it was from there that Cougars got to the visitors’ line in five tackles, whereupon March produced one of his tantalising, teasing grubbers towards the posts.

The ball ricocheted all over the place before falling nicely into March’s path in the in-goal while a hesitant Oldham defence seemed to freeze. March went on to have a major influence on the outcome, but not as much as his fellow veteran Handforth, whose kicking game was immaculate and whose second try provided Cougars with badly-needed respite as Scott Naylor’s men threatened to turn the game upside down after going 26-0 down at the break.

Thanks to tries by March and Handforth, shell-shocked Oldham were 12-0 down after six minutes. In all Handforth scored two tries, set up two more, kicked Oldham to death and, with March, played with a seasoned composure that enabled these old warriors to manage the game and see it to a successful conclusion.

With first use of slope and wind, Cougars took full advantage of Oldham’s lackadaisical approach to score five first-half tries, the last two by winger Paul White in the run-up to half-time.

Oldham rarely looked like scoring in the first half and to add to their problems they lost full-back Steven Nield with a knee injury. Oliver Roberts went to centre and Sam Gee switched to full-back —- two forced moves, but which worked well.

Roughyeds needed to get off to a flier at the start of the second half and they did so with two converted tries inside the first four minutes. Roberts moved beautifully in the right-centre position to commit the defence and put the supporting Steve Roper in for a try with a one-handed inside pass.

Two minutes later a Palfrey grubber at the end of a set sat up nicely for a delighted Roberts to score another try which Palfrey again converted.

Yet more Oldham pressure followed, but a penalty against Michael Ward returned the momentum to Keighley. With his side wobbling and desperate for somebody to come up with something special, Handforth stepped forward to deliver and Oldham’s big revival was stopped in its tracks.

They weren’t for giving up though and when the defiant Gee pushed through the defensive line and found Palfrey on his shoulder, the captain raced clear to cross for a try which he quickly converted as home fans began to nervously check their watches.

Trailing 32-18 with ten minutes left, the visitors hurled everything at the home side and the lively Roberts was held up over the line before a couple of left-flank raids came to nothing because of poor execution on the last pass.

Danny Langtree’s one-on-one steal gave more hope of another try, and it finally came when Roberts pushed forward to the Keighley line and, from the play-the-ball, Josh Crowley crashed over by the posts.

Palfrey goaled again to cut the deficit to eight points, but time finally ran out on an Oldham side which will once again be beating itself up for starting so lethargically and leaving itself with far too much to do.