Power of pack sets foundation

DEBUT TRY . . . Scott Turner gets through the Workington line to score.

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IN weeks to come Oldham might well look back on this game as the one which secured Championship survival.

Victory against Workington at the third time of asking lifted Roughyeds five points clear of the relegation zone and took them above derby rivals Swinton Lions for the first time since early in the season.

This was supposed to be the game when Roughyeds would struggle without suspended Michael Ward, the injured Richard Lepori and Adam Clay and the no-longer available Lewis Foster, who had been recalled from his loan spell by Leigh Centurions.

Clay played, but none of the others did and Scott Naylor even rotated the rest of his forwards, leaving out Phil Joy and Will Hope; recalling Joe Burke, Sammy Gee and Craig Briscoe; and re-establishing Gareth Owen as his starting hooker.

Outside of the forwards, he brought back Lewis Palfrey as team leader, captain, goalkicker and midfield general and introduced new signing Scott Turner at full-back although he is generally recognised as a winger.

You've got to hand it to Naylor. He's not afraid to make brave decisions and he has the knack of bringing out the best in his side when they appear to be hit by adversity or facing a backs-to-the-wall scrap.

That's part of the Naylor psyche. It was his trademark as a player and, as team boss, he expects his players to have similar fortitude, mental strength and will to win.

The 17 who demolished Workington here had all those qualities in abundance, although the unlucky Briscoe, a sub, was only on the field a couple of minutes before he went down with a knee injury and was able to take no further part in the game.

Thereafter it was 16 v 16 because Town hooker Graeme Mattinson had already gone off with a serious-looking arm injury.

It was that sort of game - tough, fiery, always threatening to blow up, hugely physical with the two packs smashing into each other unrelentlessly from start to finish.

Naylor asked his middle unit - Burke, Tyler Dickinson, Liam Thompson, Jack Blagbrough and Gee - to meet fire with fire.

When Town won at Bower Fold a fortnight ago, their forwards Walker, McAvoy, Shackley and Gordon bossed the middle and provided the platform from which Jarrod Sammut and Carl Forber, their talented halves, did the damage.

The plan this time was for Oldham's forwards to be more physical and to get on top quickly, thus denying Sammut and Forber of opportunity and providing more scope for Palfrey and Hewitt to give the Cumbrians a taste of their own medicine.

It worked a treat. Oldham were 18-0 up inside half an hour with tries by Turner, Jamel Chisholm and Blagbrough, all goaled by Palfrey, including one off the touchline.

The side looked much more balanced than of late with Owen back at hooker and Palfrey in the middle.

And at the back new-boy Turner produced a masterclass of ball fielding, kick returning and exquisitely timing his excursions into the attack to score two tries and have another disallowed for obstruction.

His safe hands, speed and nifty footwork gave Town heaps of trouble on numerous occasions.

Sammut was hardly seen in the first half and when he did get more of the ball as Town enjoyed the slope after the break he couldn't do anything right. He was marked out of the game, he didn't like it and he seemed to like the barracking of the Roughyeds faithful even less.

Forber completely overshadowed his more celebrated partner and it was his grubber kick into the in-goal which set up Town's only first-half try for Sammut.

The visitors were unlucky to be recalled twice for forward passes in Forber-inspired breaks, but they could blame nobody but themselves for making a howler of the restart kick following Sammut's try.

Danny Langtree made them pay with a try near half-time and with an interval lead of 24-6 Oldham were in command.

Town had a lot more of the play in the second half, while Oldham allowed them to creep back into the game with poor execution, most notably when Kieran Gill got over in the corner but failed to ground the ball correctly.

Tries by Declan Hulme and Brett Phillips hauled Town back to 24-16 but Oldham had the last word when Hewitt sent in Turner for his second try to crown a debut which made him an instant hit with home fans.