Oldham beat Barrow to move closer to Wembley

Oldham are 80 minutes away from a first ever trip to Wembley after a dramatic 38-24 1895 Cup quarter-final win over Barrow at Boundary Park.

Roughyeds twice came from behind in bright sunshine to seal a thrilling victory in front of a vocal Joe Royle Stand, thanks to man-of-the-match Josh Drinkwater and hat-trick hero Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e.

"We probably made it a lot harder than it should have been to credit to Barrow," Drinkwater told Roughyeds TV.

We just need to be a little more disciplined and clinical but it is a good sign that when things are going against us we are not dropping our heads."

Head coach Sean Long handed a debut to Dream Team centre Nene Macdonald, who combined with Jordan Turner on the left edge, with Riley Dean, Iain Thornley and George Hirst all returning to the side.

And Oldham got off to a flyer with two fine tries for an early 10-0 lead against an opponent who handed Long's men their only defeat of the Championship season so far last month.

PLT opened the scoring as he sliced through down the right, before Jack Johnson took a PLT pass to score the second, Drinkwater kicking one of the two conversions.

But the Raiders roared back with dangerman Tee Ritson catching the hosts cold with a smart finish, Ryan Shaw converting to cut the deficit to 10-6. Oldham then sent the restart out on the full and Shaw nailed a penalty from half-way to trail only by two. It would get even better before the break when Charlie Emslie diving over next to the posts, Barrow somehow grabbing a 14-10 lead at half-time.

Oldham's response was sharp, Lewis Baxter levelling the scores straight after half-time with his first ever career try and Johnson grabbing his second out wide after fine work from Riley Dean, ten unanswered points putting Roughyeds back ahead 20-14.

But Barrow weren't done and their patched-up side looked determined to deny Oldham as Shaw scored a fine try in the right corner and then Ritson kicked and juggled his way through for an extraordinary score as Barrow led again at 24-20.

That seemed to spark Oldham into full throttle, with man-of-the-match Drinkwater taking control as he did against Sheffield last week. PLT levelled the scores as he dashed through again, Drinkwater nudging Oldham 26-24 up from the touchline. Drinkwater then scored the game-breaking try with a fine finish before PLT stepped through for his hat-trick to seal a hard-fought win.

"It is a Cup game and we are into the semi-finals and 80 minutes from Wembley," added Drinkwater.

The crowd were very loud, some good numbers and they made a big difference - so keep coming out to support us."

Oldham are joined in the last four of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup by Featherstone, Bradford and York, with the draw to be made on Sunday 13th.