Oldham 36 Salford RLFC 28 Match Report

 

Salford RLFC gave Oldham a scare in the sun shine  at Boundary Park on Sunday.

Dec Murphy continued at Fullback for the Reds, Jack Homes moved into the centres, with loanees  Corey Jay Sharpe and Oli Polec who was impressive during  his stints on the field started on the bench, A decent away following cheered Dave Hewitt's men onto the field hoping for a better performance than last time out against Swinton Lions.

Salford started the brighter of the two teams with hooker Brad Dwyer being creative around the ruck almost allowing Joe Hartley to send winger Kieran Dixon over in the corner, unfortunately the Oldham defence stood firm and Dixon was pushed into touch.

Salford's early strong play paid off after 6 minutes, good defensive pressure from the Reds caused a error in the Oldham attack on half way,  half back Lewis Pilling hacked the ball on  and after some football style skills from centre Joe Hartley allowed the centre to retrieved the ball and crash over the line for the 1st score of the afternoon. Kieron Dixon converted and Salford lead 6-0.

The scores were level 3 minutes later when Oldham's Luke Forber scored in the corner after good work by former Salford fullback Jack Walker opened up the Salford defence, Morgan Smith converted and the scores were level.

Straight from kick off  Salford hit back and took the lead again, a short kick off caused problems for Oldham Dec Murphy reacted quickest to set the platform, Brad Dwyer to tease the Oldham defence and eventually sent centre Jack Homes over for a try in the corner. Dixon added the 2 points and Salford lead by 6 points after 10 minutes.

The next 10 minutes both sides traded sets with Oldham testing fullback Murphy with grubber kicks and Salford with Toby Hughes and Lewis Pilling looking for a opening. The next try went to Salford after 20 minutes good work by the Salford halfbacks resulted in a penalty for Salford. The kick to touch was long and a quick play of the ball allowed Keiron Dixon enough space to race over the line Unfortunately for Salford Dixon missed the conversion but Salford had a strong lead  6-16.

Salford enjoyed 10 minutes of pressure after the try against a shell shocked Oldham, Pilling and Hughes again dictating operations gave Salford hope and nearly created a try for Homes but the Oldham defence stood firm, Oldham weathered the storm and started asking questions of the Salford defence too and on 30 minutes after Salford failed to find touch from a penalty were punished, this time it was former Red Matty Ashurst who held off the Salford defence to score, Morgan Smith converted again and it was a 6 point ball game,

Salford's success at short kick-off's continued as they got the ball back again from the restart,  after a period of pressure centre Oli Garmston was held up close to the line and forward Jack Bibby was unlucky not to crash over after some heroic Oldham defence kept him at bay.

Just before half time Oldham scored a crucial try, again former Salford player Matty Ashurst showed his class by coming back on the inside and powering over the line for his 2nd try, the conversion was successful and Oldham lead 18-16 at half time.

The 2nd half had a scruffy look about it early on with both teams knocking on in centre field as they looked to build pressure. Salford were the 1st team to do this as Jack Bibby again, Reece Stanton and Oli Garmston asked questions which resulted in a drop out for Oldham, Salford were unable to turn the pressure into points this time and were punished when after 46 minutes Oldham forward Bayley Lui smashed though the Salford defensive line to pick up a try from close range, Morgan Smith kicking boots were successful again and Oldham lead by 8 points.

At this point you would have had short odds on Salford retrieving the kick off and scoring a try and this is what happened again, Good work by Jack Homes and Reece Stanton built a platform for Hooker Joe Baldwin to burrow his way over the line a minute later, Kieron Dixon converted the try and Salford were back in the contest and trailed by 2 points.

Salford had kick off issues of their own at this point as they allowed the ball to go dead  which gave Oldham a opportunity for half back Tom Forber to test the Salford defence, the defensive effort was there for all to see and the pressure on Tom Forber made him offload behind Oldham winger Josh Simms and the ball to go dead, much to the delight of the Salford Faithful housed in the main stand.

For the next ten minutes both teams traded sets of 6 with a strong 20m carry by Charlie Glover, a strong tackle by Cole Oakley on Tom Fober causing a error in centre field and a Oldham ball boy hitting the posts when trying to get the ball back in play the highlights.

Brad Dwyer who had been a thorn in the Oldham side all afternoon linked up well with Toby Hughes once again and on 65 minutes Salford were asking questions off the Oldham defence,  it resulted in a drop out for Oldham, Salford were unable to take advantage of that situation and the danger went away.

Oldham scored next after 70 minutes Matty Ashurst completing his hat trick with a strong run out wide catching the Salford defence cold.  Salford still had petrol in the tank and went on the attack themselves, a Hail Mary kick by Hughes allowed both Murphy and Dixon to race away hunting for a try unfortunately for Salford Oldham fullback Jack Walker was there to collect.

The pressure on the field was beginning to show on both teams as both Dec Murphy and Tom Nisbitt were sent to the sin bin after a 26 man push and shove broke out after a clumsy challenge by Oldham in defence.

Salford took advantage of the frazzled state of both teams by getting on the score sheet next ,good work by Lewis Pilling and winger Calum Green gave Salford territory allowing loanee Corey Jay Sharpe to dummied over from close range to score, Dixon converted and with 2 minutes to go Salford trailed by 2.

Salford did have opportunity in the dying moments with Lewis Pilling charging down a attempted kick by Oldham and centre Joe Hartley retrieving the ball and looking to race 40m to score, unfortunately the Oldham defence scrambled well enough to prevent the centre creating a fairy tail finish for the Reds.

As the hooter sounded  Oldham forward Bailey Lui was put in the sin bin and it was Brad Day of Oldham who had the final say in this contest going over by the posts for Oldham RLFC. 

A positive reaction after the Swinton defeat 2 weeks ago, Head Coach Dave Hewitt will be happy with the effort put in by his boys against another top 4 side in The Championship, to push Oldham all the way shows how far the team has come this season. The journey of development continues for the Reds as they look to finish their season with a win next week away at Batley. 

Match report by Rob Parkinson

Pictures by Gareth Lyons