Handling errors proving costly

Matty Wilkinson was forced off during Oldham's defeat against Workington

Oldham RL assistant coach Peter Carey reckons there is a key message the players need to take on board in the remaining games of the season - handling errors urgently needed to be eradicated.

He said the side’s commitment, honest endeavour and work ethic couldn’t be faulted, but far too much of the team’s good work was being nullified by costly mistakes in possession.

That was evident in yesterday's (Sunday) 16-14 defeat at home to Workington Town - the club's second straight Betfred League 1 reverse - as the hosts had enough good ball to snatch a victory, but they couldn’t get over the line as the Cumbrians defended heroically.

Said Carey: “We can’t afford to keep making basic errors week after week and giving our opponents possession and field position.

“It means we are having a lot of extra defending to do which we shouldn’t have to do. And far too often we’ll get the ball back and then lose it again on play two or three.

“You can get away with it against some teams but not against the stronger teams in the division and certainly not against a team like Workington, who had a few old heads and knew exactly what to do in order to capitalise on the way we were playing.

“Losing Danny Bridge and Matty Wilkinson in the second half wasn’t good for us, but if the players are given a game plan they need to stick to it.

"We tend to stray from it at times and that’s usually when thing start to go wrong.

“All credit to Workington though. They came to do a job on us and it worked.

“They came with a plan to slow the ruck right down and they did it. They got away with it. It made us look very ordinary at times, but it all comes back to the key message: we’ve got to cut out the errors.

“When you look at the class and quality of the lads who were not playing because of injury it shows we are up against it at the moment, but in fairness the lads on the field battled their hearts out and we went very close to pinching it at the end.”

Fourth-placed Oldham return to action on Sunday, July 8 (3pm), when they host West Wales Raiders.