Palfrey in prime spot

LEWIS PALFREY . . . second in the goals charts.

LEWIS Palfrey's six goals at Swinton kept him hot on the heels of Barrow's Josh Ward in the race to finish as the top League One marksman.

At the halfway point of the season, Oldham's stand-off and captain has landed 47 goals – three fewer than Ward but eight more than Gloucester's Matt Bradley, with whom he will be in competition in Saturday's clash at Cheltenham’s Prince of Wales Stadium.

Bradley finished second last season behind York's Ben Reynolds, with Palfrey in fifth place because he handed kicking duties to Steve Roper in the late season while he continued as captain despite a groin injury.

A year on and fully-fit again after surgery, Palfrey's personal targets for the second half of the season are to lead Oldham to promotion at the third attempt and to finish as League One’s top goalkicker.

The value of a reliable marksman was never more clearly demonstrated than in Sunday's 32-26 win at Sedgley Park when both sides scored five tries but, unusually in modern-day rugby league, Palfrey's six goals included three penalties.

Unless there are very obvious reasons for opting to go for goal — like Palfrey’s first penalty on Sunday when there were only seconds of the first half remaining — the modern way is to retain possession from the free-kick and to continue to apply pressure for a try.

Roughyeds twice bucked the trend in the last few minutes of a tight game at Sedgley, first when Jordan James was penalised with seven minutes left and with Scott Naylor's men at 28-20.

Palfrey kicked the goal and got the ball back from the restart. He used the same tactic again when Mike Morrison was sanctioned for a similar offence at two minutes to go.

Oldham have now scored 403 points from 11 games — more than any other team in the division.