Oldham pay for a dismal first half

DRIVING FORCE . . . Oldham's Will Mellor attacks the Littleborough defence

A NIGHTMARE first half saw Oldham Rugby Union Club firsts succumb to a second successive defeat, with Littleborough firsts this time doing the damage.

Despite attacking up the famed slope, the hosts got to grips with the game from an early stage and went on to run out 25-12 winners, having led 20-5 at half-time.

It was one of the worst periods of rugby Oldham had experienced for years - though the visitors did at least claw back some respectability after that.

Player unavailability saw a different 18-man squad show up for this North Lancs and Cumbria League clash, with Phil Graham starting in the back row in place of the injured Luke Roscoe and places on the bench for 18-year-olds Cameron Wood and Harry Ravenscroft.

After a mishap when it was realised nobody had brought the kit, Oldham started poorly, with Littleborough crossing for an early try in the corner.

A penalty made it 8-0 and after only 15 minutes, Oldham were on a team warning because of the penalty count.

Things went from bad to worse after 20 minutes when Littleborough broke down the left and put in a kick and chase. Callum Mergam looked harshly done-to as he tangled with an opponent, with a penalty try awarded as well as time in the sin-bin.

UNCOMFORTABLE

A host of errors had made the game uncomfortable, but Oldham enjoyed a decent spell despite being short-handed and Nick Hackman drove over in the corner.

That pulled the score back to 15-5, before some sloppy tackling allowed the home side to embellish the advantage with another score before the interval.

Oldham, whose stand-out player on the day was number eight Nick Froggatt, improved. A Gareth Barber try following a kick through by Alex Jobson was converted by Megram.

But the final word went to the hosts, with their winger taking advantage of more poor defending to seal the points after the hosts had kept Oldham pinned back with an accurate kicking game.