Oldham hammer Hornets to set up Barrow quarter-final

Oldham cut loose to run in ten tries to beat rivals Rochdale Hornets 58-6 and set up an 1895 Cup quarter-final at home to Barrow.

Centre Iain Thornley and half-back Danny Craven scored two tries each as Sean Long's men bounced back in style to last week's draw against Batley and moved another small step closer to Wembley.

"Our middles laid the platform for the outside backs and really set the tone" head coach Sean Long told Roughyeds TV.

We just wore them down, starved them of possession and our discipline was a lot better. It was a pretty professional performance in the second half."

Long made four changes after last week's frustrating home draw against the Bulldogs, with half-back Danny Craven recalled in place of Josh Drinkwater, captain Matty Wildie returning at hooker for Bailey Aldridge, and starts in the pack for former Rochdale man Ben Forster and Lewis Baxter.

And the home side got a strong start when full-back Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e scampered through after a fine delayed pass from Craven, Kieran Dixon off target with the boot.

That though stung the Hornets into action and winger Dan Nixon converted a cross-field kick, Morgan Punchard adding the extras for a 6-4 lead.

A turning point came when Rochdale sub Joe Taira was sin-binned for a late contact on Riley Dean, Oldham taking advantage of the extra man to score 12 points before half-time. Jumah Sambou produced another try for his ever-growing highlights reel with a powerful run, Iain Thornley adding another, with Dixon converting both to bring up a career milestone of 1500 points.

It got even better after the break as Roughyeds ran red hot with 42 unanswered points. Prop Owen Farnworth went in under the posts, Craven dummied over straight from a penalty, Ted Chapelhow picked up a dropped Rochdale ball to touch down, Craven added another, Wildie sent Pat Moran in, Dixon grabbed his second from another Sambou break and Thornley put the cherry on the cake. Dixon converted the lot to finish with a try and nine goals in a 22-point personal haul.

"That was getting back to how we want to play," said skipper Wildie.

The second half was a lot more clinical and showed what we were all about. The fans are always noisy and they turned out in number again and were a real help for us. We look forward to the next one now."

That next one will be Barrow at home, in a repeat of last month's Betfred Challenge Cup fixture won by Oldham at Boundary Park.

In the other ties Featherstone will host London, Bradford welcome Sheffield and York are at home to Widnes.