Oldham beaten by high-flying Southport

Oldham RU were defeated 27-12 by high-flying Southport.

Second-in-the-table Southport won the toss and went with the wind behind them in the first half.

This would end up being a key factor in the way the game played out.

Oldham started brightly with some possession in the Southport half, but then gave a couple of cheap penalties away, giving Southport possession in the Oldham 22.

Having defended the line well for five minutes, Oldham could not hold Southport and they went over and converted the try to go 7-0 up.

A further penalty from Southport after 20 minutes made it 10-0 with Oldham transgressing at the ruck and not releasing.

From the kick off poor first up tackling from Oldham let Southport get in behind the Oldham back line to give them an overlap to score in the left corner.

At 15-0 it was starting to look ominous for Oldham.

Oldham finally had some possession in the Southport 22 and gained some momentum winning several penalties.

However, some poor decision making could not turn this into points.

Oldham then lost Nick Hackman to what appeared to be a season ending Knee injury and Phil Conroy to the sin bin as the referee awarded a penalty try for an alleged push from Conroy to stop the Southport full back from scoring.

At 22-0 the half time whistle went with plenty for Oldham to do in the second half.

The second half started with Oldham in the ascendency, but the Southport defence held strong to deny them when any opportunities arose.

The key message had been that Oldham needed to score first to stay in the contest.

The back-and-forth contest did not seem to go in Oldham’s favour and following an off the ball scuffle both teams lost a player to the sin bin.

With Oldham not managing to breach the Southport line the home team worked their way up field into the Oldham 22, however, the Oldham defence turned the ball over.

The ball went back to be cleared but was charged down with the Southport centre reacting quickest to touch the ball down.

With the conversion missed it made it 27-0.

Oldham continued to pressure the Southport line and with ten minutes to go finally got on the score sheet.

With the Oldham forwards utilising the pick and go it created space for winger Corey Kelly to fire over.

Unconverted, Oldham were finally on the board at 27-5.

With Oldham finally controlling the ball they kept piling pressure on the Southport line with hooker Rhys Jones loitering on the wing to barge over to make it 27-10.

The try, converted by Alex Jobson, made it a final score of 27-12 to Southport.

Cameron Wood carried well all day and was named man of the match.

It's a week off now for Oldham as they next welcome Sefton on February 17.

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