Delighted coach salutes Oldham teamwork

DESCRIBING the 34-12 win against York as “one of the best Oldham performances of the year so far”, coach Scott Naylor paid tribute to the Roughyeds’ teamwork.

Every player in the side was worthy of an accolade, he said, and he was particularly impressed by the side’s game management and ability to stay in control once it had gained the upper hand.

“York are a very good team. They were very impressive in the first half when I thought they had the edge on us,” said Naylor. “They were aggressive, with a phenomenal work rate, and their understanding of how to play the game was second to none.

“We had a good chat at half-time about what we needed to do to change things round and it seemed to work well. At the start of the second half, when they led 12-6, it was a case of both teams banging heads and waiting to see who cracked first.

“We had talked at half-time about the need to work harder, to be more aggressive and to be more direct. Happily York rarely got anywhere near our try line in the second half. I’m seeing a different, more mature, Oldham now and we are looking better at controlling and managing certain situations.

“From the moment we levelled things up at 12-12 I felt we had the ascendancy. We kept it for the rest of the game and that’s a good sign of mental maturity. We tend to forget that League One this season is unbelievably tough.”