ROUGHYEDS registered their first win over North Wales in over four years with three tries from Zac Baker, Alex Sutton and Logan Astley in an 18-4 victory.
Throughout pre-season, and in the club’s first league game, Stuart Littler’s side has been renowned for free-flowing attacking play, but they showed another quality at the weekend - their defence.
North Wales, whose forward pack is stacked with powerhouses, made good metres throughout the game, but regularly came up short thanks to Oldham’s strong defence who regularly scrambled to keep Crusaders away.
Rob Massam, who has long been a thorn in Oldham’s side, scored his career 200th try for Crusaders only score of the afternoon.
That the try came deep in the second half was a testament to the Roughyeds defence who, prior to the try, had an answer to every Crusaders attack.
Patrick Ah Van, against his former club, produced a top performance in which he regularly stopped North Wales’ big, commanding props in their tracks.
Last season, Roughyeds took four months to register their first win on the road, and whilst it was not perfect, they defeated Crusaders - who have been League One stalwarts in recent years - in the first game away from home.
Zac Baker, whose sheer strength took him over the line for Oldham’s first try, was his usual hard-tackling self.
Baker has proved to be a pivotal asset to Stuart Littler since his arrival from Rochdale in the off season.
Joe Hartley was strong again, out on the wing, and he dealt with several high Crusaders kicks with ease and produced some good scrambling defensive work, too.
Once Roughyeds got going, they were tough to get a hold of and North Wales struggled against the tricky Jordan Paga, particularly.
Paga laid the ball off to Zac Baker who bulldozed his way over the line for the first try of the game, which Martyn Ridyard duly converted.
Danny Moss and Owain Abel had chances to score but were denied and Crusaders were made to pay for those missed opportunities.
Alex Sutton, on dual-registration from Wigan, got Oldham’s second try which came from a last play kick from Ridyard who caused the Welsh side problems all afternoon.
The ball went sailing over the Crusaders defender and, as it bounced back, it fell straight into the palms of Alex Sutton who scored unopposed, which Ridyard converted.
Roughyeds, who had not played since their opening win against London Skolars some three weeks ago, were understandably rusty at times.
A couple of stray passes and some indiscipline prevented them from having a more comfortable lead going into the break at half time.
The moment of the game, which put a Crusaders come-back to bed, came from a quick interchange of passes across the line, which allowed Connor Carr to break through the Crusaders defence.
He galloped down the wing and offloaded it to Logan Astley, who ran the ball under the sticks for another six points.
Afterwards, North Wales came closer to a try, and Lewis Baxter looked as if he had scored, but Jordan Paga somehow kept him at bay.
But Joe Hartley, who put in a huge effort, was unable to stop Rob Massam from getting a North Wales consolation try.
Oldham, who weren’t at their best, showed all the qualities of a top side in this hard fought victory in Colwyn Bay, and are now one of only three League 1 sides still unbeaten.
Teams:
OLDHAM: Astley; Hartley, Morgan, Sutton, Ah Van; Ridyard, Paga; Meadows, Wilkinson, Nelmes, Ferry, Baker, Whittel
Subs: Carr, Slater, Blagbrough, Hirst
18th Man: Wellington
NORTH WALES: Holmes; Massam, Reid, Taylor, Lynch; Abel, Moss, Baxter, Jinks, Barratt, Buckley, Forster, Fletcher
Subs: Andrade, Brennan, Costello, Rainford
18th Man: Houghton
Scorers:
Oldham: goals, Ridyard 3/3; tries, Baker, Sutton, Astley
North Wales: goals, Moss 0/1; tries, Massam
Referee: M Lynn; HT: 12-0, FT: 18-4
