There were plenty of reasons to celebrate in the Oldham dressing room after the 40-20 home win against Hunslet — the win, obviously; the extension of the ‘unbeaten at home’ tag; the move to second place in Betfred League One (even though it was to last only 24 hours); centre Connor Carr’s tremendous long-range try; Samy Kibula’s home debut; Martyn Ridyard’s eight goals from eight shots from all angles and distances; but, more specifically, Gregg McNally’s 300th career game and Patrick Ah Van’s two tries that gave him 1,000 points over his career.
Even before the game, and in anticipation of their full-back’s major milestone, the rest of the players presented Gregg McNally with a special shirt which he intends to frame and put up in his house.
“It’s certainly too good, and it means too much to me, to wear in a match,” he said afterwards. “It meant the world to me – and a massive thank-you to all concerned.”
Leaving the tunnel to enter the arena for the game, the players formed a guard of honour for the Cumbrian, who didn’t mark the occasion with a try, but had a hand in a couple scored by colleagues.
Patrick Ah Van, meanwhile, scored two tries in three second-half minutes to reach his mighty milestone — and to receive hand-shakes all round on the field and special cheers and applause from spectators around the ground.
His first try was a classic of its kind with Ridyard shaping to move the ball right and then transferring it inside to the big fella, who had taken up position on a set-move call and went through to shatter what was hitherto one of the best defences in the division.
Three minutes later he was in at the left-hand corner on the end of a more conventional right-to-left shift, the final and all-important pass having been delivered by young centre Kian Morgan, who made no mistake this time after throwing a dummy and trying unsuccessfully to go on his own in a similar situation in the previous game at Midlands Hurricanes.
After the game, McNally and Ah Van were taken into the hospitality suite to receive personally the congratulations of sponsors, club officials, volunteer helpers.
McNally said:
“It’s been a great day — and nice to top it off with a win.”
Added head coach Stuart Littler:
“We were a bit clunky in the first half and we didn’t do ourselves any favours by giving away a few ‘six agains’. We spoke at half time about fixing that up and thus getting more good field position. Once that happened we scored a few tries.”
He said of McNally:
“Not many players reach 300 games. I am proud of him. We go back a long way. He’s a great lad.”
And of Ah Van:
“Pat is well-liked by everybody. He’s a quality individual on and off the field. He has played in a few positions for us and he has never complained once. There is no ego about him and in whatever position he is picked to play he does his best and always puts the team first.”
Ah Van’s ten tries in League One this season have lifted him to joint second place in the league charts, three behind the leader Owen Restall of Dewsbury Rams, who needs no introduction to Oldham supporters. Jordan Paga, with eight tries, is joint fifth behind Restall (13), Ah Van (10), Sam Smeaton (Doncaster, 10) and Sean Sabutey (Workington, 10).
Martyn Ridyard is now joint top of the goal charts with 47 goals and second on points with 102 – 12 behind Doncaster’s Connor Robinson.
