Drinkwater ensures Oldham win

Josh Drinkwater nailed a drop-goal at the death to see Oldham bounce back with a win, overcoming a stubborn Sheffield side in the process.

Roughyeds were unable to shake off the Eagles who had fought back from 16-0 down to lead at the break. Oldham got themselves back in front numerous times in the second forty, but each time Sheffield found a response.

There were three penalties scored in the final ten minutes, two for Sheffield and one for Oldham, and still both sides were deadlocked as the clock ticked down.

An almighty Drinkwater kick from the restart, following Bower’s third conversion, forced a drop-out, and from there the Aussie half-back, who has dug Oldham out of a hole on many occasions, came up with the goods once more.

There were a number of disruptions to the Roughyeds line-up, with Ryan Lannon set for a return until a family emergency saw him pull out on the day of the game.

There were debuts, too, for Josh Simm and Lazarus Vaalepu. Simm’s inclusion saw Nisbet move to full-back, with Jack Walker rested, while Jake Bibby returned to the centres and Luke Forber came back into the line-up.

But early on there was no sign of disjointedness. An early Sheffield knock-on saw Oldham pounce. Drinkwater delayed a pass to allow Ted Chapelhow to smash his way through the line to open the scoring inside the opening five minutes.

More Eagles handling errors provided more points for Oldham. This time Alan Kilshaw’s men shifted the ball out wide to find Josh Simm in space for a try on debut.

Tom Nisbet was next on the scoresheet, and it was Drinkwater orchestrating the play once again. He timed his pass perfectly for the makeshift full-back to power over.

Sheffield grew into the contest, with Jordan Abdull – who caused Oldham plenty of problems earlier this season during his time with Widnes – beginning to stamp his authority.

He drilled a kick low for Kieran Gill who was a dead cert to score until Simm arrived on the scene to single-handedly prevent the Sheffield man from grounding under the posts.

Sheffield continued to turn the screw and were rewarded when Joe Brown pulled one back in the corner.

Matty Foster then powered over for the Eagles’ second six minutes before the break, further reducing Oldham’s advantage.

Awarded a penalty for a ball strip moments later, Sheffield made it count, with George Griffin steamrolling his way through Ben Davies to level the scores.

A Reiss Butterworth 40/20 gave Sheffield one final opportunity before the interval and, from the resulting set of six, Gill strolled over to complete the turnaround and wipe out all of Oldham’s earlier good work.

Roughyeds re-grouped at the break and quickly regained control. A smart decision from Matty Wildie to go down the short side created the opening, with Ben O’Keefe bursting through before two superb steps left both the Sheffield winger and full-back grasping at thin air as he raced under the posts.

Sheffield responded through former Oldham man Martyn Reilly, who forced his way over from close range.

Then came a huge effort from Luke Forber. Breaking through from well inside his own half, the flying winger produced a superb dummy to wrong-foot Eden before racing away to put Oldham back in front.

Roughyeds were desperate to put the game to bed. Ben Davies was held up, Luke Forber almost grounded Tom Forber’s high kick and Josh Simm went agonisingly close in the corner.

But the next score went Sheffield’s way. A short drop-out failed to travel the required 10 metres, handing the Eagles a penalty, and with Oldham only two points clear, the Eagles opted to kick for goal to level the scores.

The deadlock lasted barely a minute. Davies had the ball stripped and, once again, the kicking tee was called for. Smith made no mistake, restoring Oldham’s lead.

With both sides hunting the decisive score, Abdull drilled a low kick to the line. It ricocheted off a number of legs before Jake Bibby eventually pounced on the ball – a move deemed illegal and Sheffield were able to level yet again via a penalty.

There was still time for one final twist – and it came from the boot of Josh Drinkwater. The Australian kept his cool when it mattered most, nailing the drop-goal to snatch a dramatic victory for the Roughyeds.