Spirited Oldham run out of steam against New Brighton

Corey Kelly in action for Oldham at the weekend

An Oldham side, shorn of several of its main go-forward players, put in a really spirited performance against a strong well-organised New Brighton side, but finally ran out of steam as the visitors gained a 34-17 victory.

Brighton scored with their first attack, winning a line-out and marching forward 20 metres to the line, but Oldham hit back with a fine ball steal by Nick Hackman and a precision kick by Tom Davies which saw Colt Corey Kelly keep his cool to score in the corner.

The score remained 5-5 until the last play of the first half when New Brighton scored a converted try to give them a 12-5 lead.

There was nothing but praise from coaches Jimmy Forster and Like Roscoe, who were delighted to see two former Colts stars Phil Whitham and Rob Charles back in action after long absences, and the splendid effort, commitment and on-field discipline from the whole team.

Second row Cameron.Wood had played his best ever half and Isaac Dobb continued his impressive form as the pack which, after the early set-back, matched the taller heavier visitors in both the lines and scrums.

An early second half score would have greatly helped Oldham's cause, but they opted to run an easy kickable penalty from directly under the posts, and were thwarted in the corner.

After 20 minutes or so, despite the constant heavy rain, New Brighton extended their lead as they ambitiosly ran the ball from deep and the speedy right winger raced 70 yards to.score and almost immediately made another long run to set up position for a well-judged cross kick for a try on the other wing.

Oldham hit back with tries from points machine Alex Jobson and the tireless Jack Taylor and pushed for a bonus point try score, but New Brighton had the last word scoring again in the last minute with a fine piece of skill in the air, and a pacy finish, yet again, by their right wing and gave the scoreline a slightly flattering look.

Oldham find themselves near the foot of the table and have had to make at least six changes, often more, of personnel for every game to date.

Hopefully once they find themselves with a more settled team, and manage to show greater composure with the ball in hand in the opposition half (one to match their fine individual defensive efforts), Oldham can optimistically expect them to have appreciably more success later in the season.

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