Steely Oldham eclipse Eagles

NO STOPPING ME . . . Liam Thompson shows grit and determination to notch the Roughyeds' third try

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THOSE fans who doubted Oldham's credentials to regroup and make a fist of their relegation battle after seven league defeats in a row had better raid the fridge for a large helping of humble pie.

To hit back from 12-0 down and see off Whitehaven 26-18 at Bower Fold was good for starters, but what came next was something else ­- an inspirational team performance which delivered a 24-16 win against a full-time Sheffield Eagles outfit on a cold Friday night in South Yorkshire.

No extra points for getting your first away win in the Kingstone Press Championship or for completing a league double against the spivs who don't need a proper job; but what those achievements will do for the confidence and self belief of coach Scott Naylor's men is immeasurable.

Sheffield paraded big men on a big pitch ­- it was almost twice the size of Whitebank or Bower Fold ­- but Oldham were big where it counted most; in heart, spirit, commitment, desire and mental toughness.

In short, and making no apology for use of a hackneyed cliche, they wanted it more than Mark Aston's men, who were 'Failures' with a capital 'F' when their resolve and their willingness to man up was tested in goal-line defence.

If there is one aspect of this sport which sorts the men from the boys it's how a side performs when it has to defend back-to-back sets deep in its own red zone or, even more revealing, how it stands up to taking a battering on its own line.

In that regard, Oldham graduated with a First on the playing fields of Hallam University; Sheffield needed an extra year to take their uni finals again.

Of the Roughyeds four tries, Eagles could do little to prevent those by Kieran Gill and Liam Thompson, but they should never have allowed Kenny Hughes to make themselves look silly or Lewis Foster to ruthlessly expose their shortage of defensive desire when the visiting hookers each scored tries at important stages of the game.

Oldham defended their line brilliantly, especially in the second half when Eagles tested them thoroughly following the arrival off the bench of on-loan Frenchman Stan Robin, a half-back of real talent and the most dangerous and exciting attacker on the field.

It was of little surprise when he got on the end of an Eagles raid deep into Oldham territory to score a try which reduced the visitors' lead to 20-16.

Eagles then threw everything at Naylor's men, who were coming under increasing pressure from the mercurial Robin.

For fully 20 minutes Oldham were pinned back in their own quarter, but they gave Eagles a few lessons in goal-line defending, especially when Adam Neal was stopped inches short; when Richard Lepori saved a certain try with a one-on-one tackle on Robin; when left-wing Garry Lo was edged into touch by Adam Clay at the corner flag on the right; and when Robin was shunted out by Lepori, Chisholm and Craig Briscoe just inside the corner flag on the other wing.

Nothing wrong at all then with Oldham's willingness to scrap and battle. They had a clear-cut edge on Sheffield in that respect and it was desire and bottle that eventually proved the difference between the sides.

Where Oldham struggled, in the first half, was to get their right-side defensive line deployed and structured sufficiently well to make it difficult for Eagles to find any space.

In the event, they found heaps of open ground and capitalised accordingly by scoring a couple of 'soft' tries with Cory Aston and Quentin Laulu-Togagae touching down and Aston kicking two goals.

Once Oldham plugged that hole, they looked much more likely to win.

Gill opened their scoring by crashing in from short range on a flat pass from dummy half by Foster. The goal was added by Lewis Palfrey, who then kicked a penalty for an 8-6 lead.

The lead changed hands three times in the first half alone, Oldham going in for the half-time break with a 14-12 advantage thanks to Hughes's exciting solo in which he went on a twisting, corkscrew run to the line, bumping off the full-back en route.

They increased that to 20-12 early in the new half when Thompson put the finishing touches to a classical right-flank raid which featured Hughes and Danny Grimshaw.

Palfrey goaled, but he failed with two additional attempts in a thriller that was wide open until Foster put the game to bed by taking three men over the line with him from dummy half.

The Oldham front-rowers all played well ­- Joy, Burke, Ward and dual-reg Dickinson ­- and nobody on either side eclipsed the sheer graft of Roughyeds back-rowers Briscoe, Langtree and Thompson.

Outside of the pack, Lepori had a blinder. The full-back has been in scintillating form since returning from a shoulder injury and has clearly made a big difference, as has the recruitment of on-loan pair Foster and Gill.