Battling Oldham succumb to promotion hopefuls Swinton

For half an hour Oldham were as good as, if not better than, a Swinton Lions team that is pushing to finish second behind Keighley Cougars in Betfred League One.

However, Stuart Littler's side fell to a 35-6 defeat at Heywood Road.

Young on-loan hooker Johnny Openshaw was tearing Swinton apart from dummy half and Oldham looked the business as he got the forwards on a roll up the middle, with Tom Spencer and Emmerson Whittel looking particularly good.

Oldham took the lead with a Joe Hartley try after some great attacking rugby and although Richard Lepori levelled the scores with a converted try in the 17th minute, it was the direct result of a controversial decision to let a kick bounce.

It bounced perfectly for Lepori and he finished in style, but there was absolutely nothing to suggest that Swinton were going to win by 29 points until injuries began to bite Oldham hard, starting with the loss of key man Openshaw in the 29th minute.

Moving swiftly from dummy half inside the Lions ten, as the visitors set up another attack, he suddenly dropped to the grass in obvious pain clutching a knee. 

Sean Slater, his replacement, came out with a leg heavily strapped and it wasn’t long before play was held up while he was checked out for what looked like a jaw injury.

There were others too, but despite these injuries and a missed tackle that enabled Max Roberts to give Swinton a narrow half-time lead, it was still only 10-6 after an hour before things started to swing Swinton’s way.

Roberts, on the left, got an opportunity to capitalise on the work of his forwards, led by Lewis Hatton and Lewis Charnock, who were starting to get on top for the first time.

His break led to a good try by his fellow centre Mitch Cox on the other side of the field and Abrm goaled for a 16-6 lead.

By now Oldham's injuries were seriously beginning to bite, and that much was evident when Openshaw came back on, but was clearly in some distress and went off again after a couple of minutes or so.

Worse was to follow.

Whittel was injured next (damaged ribs) and with all subs used up and only 12 men on the pitch, the Lions finally put the game to bed with late converted tries by winger Brad Holroyd, prop Lewis Hatton and second-rower Nick Gregson plus a Jack Hansen drop goal.

When Swinton were up against a busted outfit in the last 20 minutes or so they looked good, but there was little between the sides until then and Roughyeds can go into their crunch game with Hunslet at the Vestacare Stadium next Sunday, September 4, with quiet and reserved confidence.

OLDHAM: Butterworth; Copland, Morgan, Hartley, Restall; Ridyard, Hewitt; Nelmes, Openshaw, T Spencer, Field, Cameron, Whittel.

Subs: Slater, Newton, Coventry, Thornton.

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