Roughyeds kick off 2026 campaign with big win over Salford

Oldham got their 2026 campaign off to a perfect start, comfortably beating Salford 44-0 at the CorpAcq Stadium on Friday night.

Roughyeds struck early in the fourth minute and asserted their authority over Salford across the full 80 minutes, silencing a vocal home support that had turned out in force to back the revived club, reformed only weeks after being wound up in December over outstanding debts.

There were eight separate try scorers, three of whom did so on debut, while also keeping Salford scoreless – a feat director of rugby Mike Ford was most pleased with.

“It doesn’t matter who you are playing, the opposition are always going to get chances,” he said.

I was really pleased with the number of times we kept them out, it is always tough to keep a team scoreless.

Brad Dwyer played in Super League last year and he caused us a lot of problems with his runs and kicks but we had a bit of steel about us.

Our goal was to keep them to nil and we did that tonight.”

It was Ben O’Keefe who opened the Roughyeds’ account for the new year, finishing in style after a clever lay-off from Riley Dean who, in his first start for Oldham since June, impressed in the halves alongside Josh Drinkwater.

Ted Chapelhow doubled the scoring just moments later when he steamrolled through the Salford line, off a short pass out of dummy-half by captain Matty Wildie.

Just after the first quarter, Tom Nisbet had an easy touchdown in the right corner for a 16-0 lead, following a nice shift involving Oldham’s halves.

Salford had begun to assert themselves and even crossed for a try, only for referee Aaron Moore to rule the pass forward. Moments later, the match was halted due to a medical emergency.

Play was suspended for 20 minutes while medical teams treated a Roughyeds supporter who is now on the mend after suffering a cardiac arrest.

Oldham took control in the second half, and Dean got on the scoresheet after the move of the night – a late Nisbet offload to Dixon, whose subsequent trademark length-of-the-field dart set up the try.

Debut tries from Bibby and Geyer – who both put in solid performances – were followed by late ones from Owen Farnworth and Ryan Lannon, rounding off a solid start to 2026.