KEIGHLEY Cougars started with a flourish, quickly got on top and stayed on top in a 32-6 win at the Vestacare Stadium.
It was a disappointing opening day for Oldham, who conceded three tries in the first 17 minutes and failed to play to expectations.
Cougars opened their account when centre Charlie Graham forced a Roughyeds error and then broke from the scrum to put Alix Stephenson in at the left-hand corner.
Three penalties in a row and a couple of “six agains” provided Cougars with a surfeit of possession in the early exchanges and it was on the last tackle of a fifth consecutive set that Aaron Levy crashed over for the visitors’ second try. Jack Miller added the goal.
Stu Littler’s men hardly saw the ball in the first quarter of an hour and they fell further behind when prop Brad Ho ran over a tackle and thus provided Branden Santi with half a chance to push up the middle.
He took it with aplomb, broke into the clear and sent supporting full-back Lewis Young through to the line for Keighley’s third try. Miller goaled again for a 16-0 lead.
The introduction of Jordan Andrade off the bench provided the home side with more physicality and a lot more go-forward and it was no surprise later when it emerged that Leo Casey, a member of the match-sponsoring Oldham Players’ Association, had selected Andrade as the Roughyeds’ top player.
Not even the Jamaican international could alter the scoreboard before half-time, however, and the teams changed ends with Cougars 16-0 ahead.
Oldham had conceded six of the seven first-half penalties and several incidents of “six again” — clearly a significant factor in Keighley’s dominance.
Early in the second half the Yorkshiremen went 20-0 up when right-centre Nathan Roebuck crossed for the first of his two second-half tries on the back of more first-class ball movement that Roughyeds struggled to emulate.
They came closest to it for a considerable length of time in the second half, highlighted when champagne-moment winner Owen Restall scored wide out on the left after good work by James Thornton. Martyn Ridyard added the goal to take his career total to 999, but that was where the home scoring ended.
A Dave Hewitt grubber produced a Keighley drop out, but they defended as well as they attacked and Oldham couldn’t break them down again, although full-back Restall nearly got his second try when challenging for a Ridyard cross-kick on the visitors’ line.
Mo Agoro came from nowhere to smash Joe Hartley into touch when he was going for the corner, but that was the best it got for Oldham, who conceded two more late tries by the outstanding Levy and by centre Roebuck, his second of the game.
Miller improved both and it finished with a scoreline of 6-32.
Roughyeds suffered an injury scare near the end when winger Tommy Brierley received considerable attention on the field before being helped off with what appeared to be a knee, ankle or leg injury.
Oldham scorers: Restall (try); Ridyard (goal).
Team: Restall; Brierley, Cooke, Hartley, Holcroft; Ridyard, Hewitt; Nelmes, Jinks, Newton, Thornton, Ferry, Whittel. Subs: Wright, Spencer, Andrade, Coventry.
