Another tale of 'what could have been' for Oldham RU

Oldham RUFC welcomed Thornton Cleveleys to Manor Park, but were beaten 37-33.

Whilst Oldham’s performances had been better it was time that they needed to be turned into points.

What followed on a sunny afternoon summed Oldham’s season up in 80 minutes of play.

Thornton within 15 minutes were 19-0 up with the away side quick to pounce on Oldham’s lacklustre start where Thornton seemed to cut through Oldham’s defence at will.

Thornton were breaking the first up Oldham defence which meant Oldham were always turning to get back in defence.

Having played without the ball for the first period Oldham finally got hold of the ball and looked to get back into the game against the free-playing Thornton team, who had their tails well and truly up running the ball at every opportunity.

Oldham found joy in the forwards, deciding to keep it short and work around the ruck.

Oldham finally made an impact on the scoreboard from a lineout coming from a penalty following Louis Fitton break.

Rhys Jones burrowed through to get Oldham onto the board.

Thornton pressured the Oldham line again, but this time Oldham held out, repelling Thornton until Fitton chased his own kick to then intercept as Thornton looked to attack again, racing from halfway to score.

With Alex Jobson converting one of the Oldham tries the home team were starting to have an impact on the scoreboard.

Oldham’s defence this time saw them pressure Thornton into touching down in their in goal area resulting in a five-metre scrum to Oldham.

From this, Isaac Dobbs picked up and went feeding Lewis Ward to dummy the defence and score.

Thornton hit back to regain the lead through another swift move through their back line which was converted, however, the home side were not done quite yet.

Oldham continued to control the attack with further forays into the Thornton 22 and it was from this that the evergreen Jack Taylor, who had come into the game after 20 minutes burst through three would-be defenders to score under the posts.

With Jobson again converting to make the score line 24-26 to the away side

Oldham started the second half brightly and an offside penalty gave Oldham a further three points to take the lead at 27-26.

Further territory came for Oldham with the introduction of Stuart Brennan coming out of retirement which again led to a penalty which Jobson kicked making it 30-26.

Thornton came back into the game with a try following a charge down of an Oldham clearance kick which seemed against the run of play.

However, Oldham went straight back down and scored a penalty to hit straight back through Jobson to make it 33-31.

Thornton then kicked a penalty for a high challenge offence as the game went into the closing five minutes at 33-34 as Thornton took the lead.

A further Thornton penalty from a ruck infringement saw them take the lead at 33-37.

Oldham could not get back to the Thornton line and the ref blew the final whistle to give Thornton the win.

A tale of what could have been for Oldham against a well-drilled Thornton outfit.

Oldham paid the price for being slow out of the blocks and even though they fought back into the game this was a game that they could and should have won in the end after a poor start.

A number of good performances again from Louis Fitton, Sean Carter and Isaac Dobbs, but with all around play and superlative defence Oldham’s Man of the Match award went to Phil Conroy.

With the result of the RFU deciding two teams are to be relegated from the league, Oldham are condemned to ADM Lancs/Cheshire League 3 next season.

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