Littler salutes gritty victory

Tommy Brierley returned to the starting 17 last weekend

Roughyeds boss Stuart Littler hailed Sunday’s 28-18 victory over Workington a “massive win” going into the Dewsbury game next weekend.

Two tries from Joe Hartley in the last ten minutes secured the two points for Oldham who hadn’t been leading in the game until that point.

Amid the rain and wind, Oldham came up with errors in the first half and struggled to gain a foothold until the last period of the game.

“I was umming and ahhing about coming in my shorts today – it was 19 degrees where I live, and I got off the coach at Workington and we were in a hurricane,” joked Littler.

“In the first half, they adapted better to the conditions than us and had a near perfect completion rate with only one error made.

“We didn’t have a chance to build any pressure and our play one errors were killing us, in the first half.

“We needed some toughness to come up here and get a win – I think we demonstrated that and a lot of our character shone through.

“Make no mistake, it is a massive win – we spoke all week about building some momentum at pivotal points in the season and this was one of them.”

Tommy Brierley, Callum Cameron and Martyn Ridyard all returned to the starting 17 with competition for places hotting up.

“I’m starting to get a few headaches with team selection, but I want that challenge – I want everybody fighting for spots,” said Littler.

“Tommy’s been in some dark, dark places in the last 18 months and it’s frustrating when you’re injured.

“I know what quality he brings to this team – he’s been seeing extra physios and he’s worked his stones off to get back on that field and anything like that makes my day.

“Ridyard’s kicks were great in the second half and Callum Cameron has come back from his eight game ban and done 80 minutes straight.

“It’s not just about my starting 17, it’s about those just outside putting pressure on so that nobody is nailed on for a particular position.”

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