Deadly Drinkwater downs determined Doncaster

A Josh Drinkwater masterclass saw Oldham withstand a Doncaster fightback to secure an entertaining 30-26 Betfred Championship win in South Yorkshire.

The Australian scored a hat-trick in a 22-point personal haul that saw Sean Long's men earn a first win in three games and a first victory at Doncaster since 2010.

"There are areas we need to improve on and we know we need to get better," Long told Roughyeds TV.

Drinky played really well but we invited them back in and our discipline was poor. We need to put these games to bed."

Long rung the changes after last weekend's home defeat by Bradford Bulls, handing debuts to new signings Ben Davies and Ryan Lannon, bringing in Josh Cartwright, Tom Forber and Jacob Douglas on dual registration from Wigan and leaving out Danny Craven, Owen Farnworth and Jay Chapelhow.

And the visitors started well as they looked to bounce back from two games without a win, Riley Dean stepping through the line on the last tackle, and Drinkwater converting for a 6-0 lead.

Oldham doubled their advantage when captain Jordan Turner powered over in the left corner after smart work from Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e and it looked as though the visitors were in for a comfortable afternoon.

Far from it, chaos on the last tackle saw both sides lose control of the ball and Jack Charles capitalise to get the Dons on the board. And winger Edene Gebbie then combined superbly with Brad Hey down the left, Gebbie juggling and finishing, Connor Robinson converting both to level the scores.

The home side threatened to take control but Drinkwater stepped up to guide Oldham through some choppy waters. The half-back threw a huge dummy to score just before half-time as Long's men nudged head once more and then added a penalty on the hooter for an 18-12 interval advantage.

Drinkwater picked up where he left off by darting over straight from a scrum early in the second half after Gebbie had knocked on close to the Doncaster line.
The hat-trick try soon followed as Drinkwater again caught Doncaster dozing in a magnificent individual display, and five kicks out of six from the tee gave Oldham a 30-12 lead that appeared unassailable.

But for the second time in the game the home side fought back from a double-figure deficit.

18th man Isaac Misky dummied over to pull one back, before Gebbie grabbed his second from a terrific Craig Hall cross-field kick. Crucially Robinson missed the conversion to leave Doncaster eight points and two scores adrift, so when Gebbie sealed his hat-trick in the last minute from a controversial scrum awarded for an Oldham knock-on despite a clear Doncaster offside, the hosts were unable to get back on terms.

Robinson hit the post in any case and the hooter sounded to huge relief throughout the vocal travelling Roughyeds support.

"We were just doing a little bit too much defending and this is a mad competition. Anyone can beat anyone in the Championship," said Long.

Drinkwater's kicking game was bob-on and he got the lads around the park. He recognised they were sliding off him and his leadership out there was tremendous.

Ben Davies was really good on debut too and he will be better for that run out.

We need to bottle up what we had first half and then stop coughing up loose balls. We need to be better now against Toulouse and against Featherstone in the next two weeks."

4th placed Oldham are back at Boundary Park next Saturday for a huge Championship game against 3rd placed Toulouse, followed by that visit of Featherstone Rovers in an 1895 Cup semi-final that could send Oldham to Wembley for the first time in their history.

You can book your tickets for both massive games below.