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Coach hails 'outstanding' Roughyeds

Gavin Browne
22/ 9/2008

OLDHAM coach Steve Deakin hailed 'outstanding' displays from his team after watching them secure a Grand Final spot against Doncaster.

Having been beaten seven days earlier by the Yorkshiremen, the Roughyeds earned a second chance of promotion with a 38-14 defeat of Rochdale Hornets last Sunday.

Seven tries gave Oldham victory, five of them coming in the second half after the Hornets had come from 12-2 down to lead 14-12 at half-time.

Richard Mervill, Gareth Langley (two), Daryl Cardiss, Tommy Goulden (two) and James Coyle crossed for Oldham, giving them a date at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium on Sunday.

Deakin said: "I thought we were outstanding. I thought we had a poor five-minute spell where we tried to force the issue at 12-2 up.

"I thought we were in control for 35 minutes (of the first half). At 12-2 up we needed to consolidate but just because they were 14-12 ahead doesn't mean they played better than us.

"If we'd gone about our business smarter, we could have gone in 20-2 up. It was said (at half-time) that we needed to be patient and back the pressure up.

"Our game plan was to get at their edges up the short side and I thought we did that pretty well which showed at the back end of the game - they were tired because we had worked them over.

"Matty Brooks was outstanding, he really gave us a lot of deception and got us into the right areas of the park.

"Hats off to Gareth Langley as well. He's been criticised in some quarters and I've had times where I've had to say he wasn't playing because his efforts weren't good enough, but he was outstanding."