Oldham 27 Tyldesley 34

With two games to go in the season Oldham welcomed old adversaries Tyldesley to Manor Park for Saturday’s fixture. With it being the annual ex-players reunion there was an expectant number of former greats hoping for a decent game and a result to match for the home side.
Having played Tyldesley twice already in the season, including being completely outplayed in the away league fixture, Oldham knew they were in for a tough afternoon.
Oldham however since the turn of the year have performed much better however performances haven’t given them the results required to garner wins with narrow losses being plentiful and also an away draw at Sefton.
Oldham welcomed back Isaac Dobbs, Jack Taylor, Jordan McEwan, Greg Higgins, Rhys Jones and Rob Froggatt in the changes from the previous fixture.
Oldham enjoyed much of the opening exchanges but having possession in the Tyldesley half couldn’t turn that into points. Tyldesley were first on the board with a penalty and a converted try from the following kick off with a line break going all the way with the Oldham defence sleeping. Oldham though were not lying down and answered back following good carrying from the Oldham pack around the ruck saw the Stuart “Moose” Brennan power over.
Tyldesley lost a man to the sin bin for a professional foul and Oldham hit back with a penalty from the boot of Alex Jobson following a Froggatt break and rumbling run from Paul Wardle to make it 10-8 in the away team’s favour.
Tyldesley scored following a line out on the Oldham line to leave the score 15-8 at half time.
Oldham lost Ross Cooper to the sin bin just into the second half and then five minutes later lost Alex Jobson to a red card for a high tackle leaving Oldham at 13 players. Tyldesley took advantage, scoring a converted try to leave the score at 22-8.
Oldham went back up to 14 men and scored straight away following a Froggatt break which led to good handling from McEwan, Hewson for Phil Conroy to score with Froggatt converting to bring Oldham back into it at 22-15. Belief began to start to show as Brennan then produced one of his trademark runs smashing through the Tyldesley defence to again feed McEwan in support and following a few more phases, skipper Nick Hackman went over. Froggatt missed the conversion hitting the upright to leave the visitors 2 points in front at 22-20.
As the minutes passed Oldham began to feel the pressure of being a man down and that showed as Tyldesley scored again following a defensive lapse in midfield which was converted to push the score to 29-20.
Oldham were not done just yet as Froggatt powered over following a scrum on the Tyldesley line which he converted to bring Oldham back again within 2 points.
Tyldesley showed why they are pushing for the top three as they strangled the life out of the following ten minutes as Oldham’s discipline began to drop conceding four penalties on the bounce and eventually, they scored again however it was unconverted to leave Oldham a last foray into the opponents’ half. A lineout catch and drive did not go to plan and Tyldesley turned the ball over which was enough for the referee to blow the final whistle with Tyldesley running out winners at 34-27.
Two bonus points for Oldham which brings them off the foot of the table to go above Hoylake by a point. A number of good performances for Oldham from Taylor, Froggatt, McEwan, Hackman and Brennan but Man of the match went to Tom Davies for his unwavering defence winning a number of crucial turnover penalties and touch kicking.
Jim Forster