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Workington Town 14 - 16 Oldham

9/ 7/2008

THE Roughyeds came away with three points from a game in which they had played poorly for the most part, showing their old failings in defence and a complete lack of ball protection and ideas in attack.

Former Oldham coach Frank Myler used to say ‘a win is a win’ and although the Roughyeds were dire, they still won and fared better than leaders Barrow who were beaten at Hunslet.

They stole victory late on when an excellent break from Ian Hodson ended with his wide pass allowing Mick Nanyn to charge over for his third try.

Oldham had started brightly, exerting pressure on the home defence, and although Scott Burgess’ break took play into the Roughyeds’ half, it was the visitors who opened the scoring when Nanyn forced his way over and added the conversion.  Workington replied though, levelling the scores when livewire Scott Burgess got the better of lazy defending to score a converted try.

Trying to force the play, Oldham had a spell of dropped passes and silly mistakes, ultimately allowing Bryce Poisel to kick to the posts.  Carl Forber was the only player to react, spectacularly knocking the ball back for Poisel to score, and with Forber’s conversion, Oldham found themselves 12-6 down.

The interval came with Workington collecting what appeared to be serious injuries to both Scott and Dean Burgess, while the away supporters were looking for a better show against the injury-ravaged Cumbrians.

Oldham had their share of problems though with Said Tamghart suffering a knee injury, only to draw level when Nanyn took advantage of good handling to stretch his way over for a try which he converted.

The Roughyeds continued to force the play, only for the resultant errors and a series of silly penalties to culminate in Workington retaking the lead thanks to Forber’s penalty.

With Oldham mounting pressure, the home defence bordered on the heroic with Matthew Tunstall and Chris Young both outstanding.  Workington thought they had scored a matchwinning try when Jay Duffy’s kick appeared to have put Stephen Dawes in for the score, only for the touch judge to disallow it.  Oldham’s intense pressure finally reaped its reward when, at last, the ball was moved quickly to the left.

Hodson broke through a tiring Workington defence which allowed him to send a long pass to Nanyn who went over, completing his hat-trick and rescuing three points which had seemed lost.