Praise from both sides

Oldham star Lewis Palfrey in full flight.

IT was a toss-up who heaped more praise on Oldham after their 32-26 win at Swinton, Scott Naylor or his Lions’ counterpart John Duffy.

“Oldham’s attitude was brilliant. They out-muscled us,” said Duffy. “For 80 per cent of the game they looked like the home side. They are very well-drilled and very aggressive and you can’t give teams like Oldham, who will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season, a 20-point start and expect to win.”

Naylor added: “Since we lost to Keighley and North Wales, the players have worked tremendously hard and they deserve enormous credit. It’s all down to them and I’m unbelievably pleased for them.

“In the first half every section of the side played well, producing a great team effort in which we played most of the half within Swinton’s 40-metre zone.

“We always knew they would have a good spell at some point, but I didn’t expect it to be quite like it was at the start of the second half. We spoke about it at half-time, but then we went out, conceded three penalties in a row and never saw the ball for fully 11 minutes.

“When that happens you are always going to be under pressure, but I thought the most decisive play of the game was Lewis Palfrey’s 40-20, which took some of the sting out of them and gave us a huge lift when we needed it most.”