Oldham take Fleetwood double

Phil Graham shows his distribution skills. Picture: TIM ABRAM.

Oldham RUFC 27, Fleetwood 16

OLDHAM completed a North Lancashire and Cumbria League double over opponents who fought until the end.

Alex Jobson came in at full-back, Jordan McEwan and Joe Hesse returned after injury, Ryan Arundale was on the wing and Rob Froggatt appeared on the bench - leaving Ryan North, Max Horsefall, Jack Sayle, Ryan Jackson, Jason Green and Charlie Roscoe missing.

Oldham didn’t enjoy several of the young referee’s early decisions, which resulted in penalties that saw the hosts go 3-0 behind.

Oldham fought back and registered a first try after 18 minutes. Hesse made the initial break, bulldozing his way through soft tackling before feeding Phil Graham, who in turn sent Ryan Pickles up the touchline to score wide on the left.

Four minutes later Jobson made a fantastic run from defence before releasing a deft pass for Arundale to score on the right. Callum Megram made amends for his earlier miss by striking a sweet goal to put Oldham 12-3 up.

Two minutes later, Oldham’s frailties resurfaced with the concession of another converted penalty and then another. But it wasn’t long before Arundale eased the tension with his second try, goaled by Megram to leave the half-time score 19-9 to Oldham.

Oldham's scrum was dominant, with all the front-row forwards putting in a massive shift and, after 55 minutes, the home side was awarded a penalty. Megram stepped up to convert the kick.

Scoring chances in the second half were hard to come by as both defences upped their game. Oldham had to wait until the 72nd minute to achieve a bonus point when Pickles crashed over.