HAVING come from nowhere to storm into the play-offs with five wins in their last seven games of the regular season, scoring 223 points against 136 in the bargain, Roughyeds found the Rochdale derby one game too many in the Play-Off Eliminator at the Crown Oil Arena.
Hornets won 38-24 to earn a next-hurdle crack at North Wales Crusaders, but it was anyone’s game for long periods, as shown by the fact that the lead changed hands five times.
The home side took the game away from us in 15 second-half minutes when they scored tries by Greg McNally, Connor Aspey, Rangi Chase and Gavin Bennion between the 53rd and 68th minutes.
But you’ve only to look at the scoring sequence to recognise the full extent of the Roughyeds’ contribution. It went like this: 0-6, 4-6, 10-6, 10-10, 10-12, 14-12, HT, 14-14, 14-20, 20-20, 26-20, 32-20, 36-20, 38-20, 38-24.
Oldham were ahead at 6-0, 12-10 and, in the second half, at 20-14, but credit Hornets with a dynamic, determined and ultimately decisive fightback in which their forwards took control to provide the platform from which half-backs Rangi Chase and on-loan Kieran Rush did most of the damage.
Right-wing Cian Tyrer was named man of the match but the effervescent Rush, a half-back from Huddersfield Giants, must have been well up there in the individual ratings.
For Roughyeds, left-centre Joe Hartley stormed in for two cracking first-half tries; his fellow centre Calvin Wellington was always a threat; Owen Restall on the left wing got through an enormous amount of work; Luke Nelmes was strong up front; and Emmerson Whitte had his usual all-action game at loose-forward, where he was clearly targeted by the home side as a danger man.
There was a key moment in the dying embers of the first half when Roughyeds, leading 12-10, failed to wrap up Chase in the middle of the field, despite attempts to get hold of him by several forwards, and the clever Kiwi sparked a cross-field handling move which resulted in a Tyrer try in the corner.
The hooter sounded before he could take the kick – it was as close as that – and although he was off-target Hornets went in at half-time with the psychological advantage of a slight lead when it could easily have been Oldham in front.
As a tribute to the passing of Her Majesty The Queen at the age of 96, players and staff of both teams wore black arm bands. They left the tunnel side by side, led out by the home club’s chaplain Geoff Hurst, a Lay Reader at St Andrew’s in Dearnley, Littleborough.
They lined up for a minute’s silence in memory of The Queen, our longest-ever serving Monarch, after which there was a rendering of ‘God Save The King’ – a tribute to the new Monarch, King Charles, the late Queen’s eldest son.
Referee Aaron Moore gave an early penalty to Roughyeds, after which we forced a drop-out.
The pressure told as early as the fifth minute when quick passing across the face of goal to the left saw Hartley fly in for an easy try which Martyn Ridyard goaled for a 6-0 lead.
It was the first of many occasions in this tight, evenly-balanced game that a penalty or a handling mistake was quickly followed by a try.
So it was on 12 minutes when Oldham looked to have created a right-side overlap, admittedly deep in their own half, before Callum Cameron knocked on to give Hornets a foothold which led to Ben Forster crashing in for a try. Tyrer’s conversion attempt hit the far post and went out.
Secomd-row man Forster made a great start for Hornets and he went close to scoring his second try before a quick play-back fashioned a soft try for Gavin Bennion which Tyrer goaled for a 10-6 lead.
Another Oldham penalty, offside, led directly to Hartley’s second try, a carbon copy of his first, but this time Ridyard hit a post with his angled kick. 10-10.
A Ridyard penalty on the half hour gave Roughyeds a 12-10 lead, but we couldn’t hang on to half-time and Tyrer got over in the corner in the dying seconds of the first half to establish a 14-12 interval lead.
We needed a good start to the second half and we got it with a Ridyard penalty goal and a fortuitous try by Restall, finished with aplomb despite the good fortune that surrounded it.
Ridyard’s goal gave us a six-point lead, 14-20, but we conceded a penalty for an offence on Ben Calland and, as seems to happen so often these days when a side concedes a penalty, a try quickly follows.
Full-back McNally, linking up for Hornets on the left, broke the defensive line, turned on the gas, sped past Kian Morgan, and scored near the posts. Tyer’s goal squared things up at 20-20 and it was evident from the way Hornets were now on the rampage that we were struggling to hold them.
Sub Connor Aspey went in for the next try from dummy half close to the line on the last tackle. Fui Fui Moi Moi, in his second spell, was lurking and maybe we were expecting Aspey to bring the big blockbuster in on the burst.
Whatever, Aspey spotted an opening himself, Tyer’s easy goal giving the home side a 26-20 lead.
Worse was to come when we conceded yet another penalty, Chase going in as a direct result, before Bennion finally put the game to bed with a solo try out which underlined Rochdale’s second-half authority.
There was still time for Jack Coventry to lose the ball as he crashed for the line – after a penalty to Roughyeds, of course – and then followed an incident which spoiled an otherwise fiercely-fought but reasonably disciplined knock-out contest.
Callum Cameron was sin-binned for an offence in midfield, but as he walked to the tunnel he was sprayed with water by a Hornets substitute.
It escalated into a fully-blown touchline brawl involving players of both sides, after which Cameron’s yellow was changed to red and Fui Fui Moi Moi was given a yellow, while the Hornets player who started the rumpus in the first place by spraying water escaped with no sanction whatsoever.
Hornets got a penalty for the original offence by Cameron before Morgan got over in the corner for Roughyeds.
HORNETS: McNally; Tyrer, Hitchcox, Brewin, Nixon; Chase, Rush; Moi Moi, Roden, Bennion, Calland, Forster, Killan. Subs: Aspey, Taira, Thomas, Whitehead..
OLDHAM: Morgan; Cooke, Wellington, Hartley, Restall; Ridyard, Hewitt; Nelmes, Butterworth, Spencer, Field, Cameron, Whittel. Subs: Yarrow, Newton, Coventry, Thornton.
Ref, Aaron Moore; HT, 14-12; Att: 735; Pens, 5-6.
