SUNDAY’S Oldham v Hunslet game at the Vestacare Stadium (3pm) will be the latest in numerous big games between these old rivals, stretching all the way back to 1899.
This Sunday, September 4, Oldham need to beat the Yorkshiremen from South Leeds to snatch the fifth and final Betfred League One play-off spot off them on for-and-against points difference, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
It will be the final game of the regular season and Oldham are currently two points behind Alan Kilshaw’s men with a plus-33 points difference against their difference of plus-1.
The scoring and defending records of the two clubs are intriguingly similar, Roughyeds having scored 541 points in their 19 games and conceded 508 and Hunslet showing figures of 495 and 494, also across 19 league games.
It couldn’t get much closer than that!
Consider also that a draw would see Hunslet home and it was a 22-22 draw at the South Leeds Stadium back in April after Roughyeds had built a 22-4 lead early in the second half.
History suggests it’s going to be anybody’s game – a tight thriller with few points separating victors and vanquished after 80 minutes of explosive action.
Just to reiterate. Oldham must WIN; Hunslet need only a DRAW.
Their recent record here is good. They’ve won their last two away games against Roughyeds and you’ve got to go back nearly eight years to find our last home win against them — 24-23 would you believe!
Of the last five meetings, Hunslet have won three, Oldham have won one (34-20 in Leeds in 2019) and there was that 22-22 draw earlier this year.
Add up the aggregate scores over those five games, however, and the difference is only six points.
It couldn’t get much closer than that!
The clubs have a similar background in many ways. For example, both have seen better days; both have been nomads as far as home grounds are concerned; both are fighting back and showing true grit and resilience after going out of existence under previous managements.
For Watersheddings read Parkside. For county and international stars like Alan Davies, Don Vines, Sid Little, Derek Turner and Frank Pitchford read Geoff Shelton, Brian Gabbitas, Dennis Hartley, Bill Ramsey or the legend that is Geoff Gunney.
Unlike Oldham, Hunslet have twice been to Wembley, in 1934 and in 1965 when they lost to Wigan 20-16 in what is generally regarded to have been one of the best-ever Challenge Cup Finals. Their cup campaign that year, my first full season covering Roughyeds for the Oldham Evening Chronicle, began with a 12-4 first-round win against Oldham at Parkside.
No smartphones and laptops back then. Unless the passage of time has played tricks with the memory, I dictated my report for that night’s Green Final from under the main stand at Parkside with the aid of a candle for light.
Over the years there have been many big games between the clubs, some going our way, some going Hunslet’s.
The 1899 Challenge Cup Final at Fallowfield finished Oldham 19, Hunslet 9.
The 1908 Championship Final, the year Hunslet won four cups, saw Oldham playing Hunslet at The Willows, Salford. Hunslet won 12-7.
In more recent times, who will ever forget that Championship One Grand Final at Headingley when a Thomas Coyle, golden-point drop goal in extra time broke our hearts?
We owe them one, don’t we, and what better time and place than this Sunday in the play-off qualification decider at Vestacare Stadium.
