Positives to take despite Oldham's defeat at Orrell

Oldham's Phil Whitham (right) makes a break

Oldham were defeated 32-19 at Orrell in a relegation battle at the bottom of the league.

Valuable points were on offer, but pre-match, Oldham had to make a number of changes due to unavailability.

Unfortunately that showed as Orrell, who are bottom of the league, raced into a 22-0 lead after 25 minutes.

Orrell then had a player sin-binned for a high tackle and that seemed that it could make a difference, but then the worst that could happen did and Oldham lost a player to a red card for a high tackle.

This suggested it was going to be a long afternoon, but it did seem to galvanise Oldham as on the stroke of half time, Alex Jobson intercepted on halfway to go under beneath the Orrell posts, and after converting it made it 22-7 at the break.

Oldham came out better in the second half, controlling possession and playing better, but Orrell always looked capable of cutting loose.

Oldham scored two further tries from Stuart Brennan, who has consistently been Oldham’s best forward all season.

Orrell, however, came back and added two more unconverted tries, and with Jobson kicking one of the two conversions it made the score 32-19.

A late flurry on the Orrell line could not bring a bonus point try and Oldham unfortunately could not take anything from the encounter.

Pleasing for Oldham was the scrum again going forward, and the performance of Oldham junior Arjun Mistry, who made his debut at 17.

He did a great job playing out of position on the wing

Oldham stay third from bottom, with Wigan also losing.

However, Orrell are now only two points behind.

Oldham face Tyldesley at home this Saturday and a big crowd is expected with it being the reunion game.

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