Roughyeds book 1895 Cup quarter-final berth

Oldham booked their place in the 1895 Cup quarter-finals with a nine-try second-half blitz, demolishing Hunslet.

Roughyeds, who kept the Leeds side to nil back in March, faced a tougher test with Hunslet showing plenty of fight, despite having only named 16 players.

Alan Kilshaw's men were set to go in at the break behind by six until Cole Geyer snatched one to level the scores just before the hooter rang.

The game looked set to be a nail-biter until its conclusion when Ant Walker, ten minutes after the break, again levelled for Hunslet – but what followed was a truly dominant period.

Roughyeds scored seven tries in a blistering 24-minute spell to stun Hunslet, marking the perfect reward for Kilshaw’s 200th game as head coach.

The Oldham boss, though, wants to see his side make oppositions work harder for their points.

"We were a little bit scratchy and a little sloppy in the first half," Kilshaw said.

We have a bad habit of giving teams momentum... a little bit disappointed with how they found their points but we can't be too critical of our boys because we've racked up 70 points and played some nice stuff.

We can't just be saying don't give penalties away or don't be sloppy – we have to defend the threat or whatever it is and then come up with some of the stuff we came up with."

It was Hunslet who opened the scoring, against the run of play, when Billy Jowitt was eager off the line to intercept a Josh Drinkwater pass as Oldham were looking for the first try themselves. Jowitt shot off and went the length of the field to finish under the posts.

Oldham soon struck back and it was Drinkwater who this time avoided Jowitt – who was waiting to pounce again – to find Ashurst in space who did the rest.

Jaron Purcell doubled the Roughyeds lead when he brushed off Dan Abram close to the line for an easy try.

But Hunslet, unlike in the 44-0 defeat at the end of March, fought back and it was Joe Butterfield who sneaked in after back-to-back Roughyeds errors.

They then took the lead when Ethan O'Hanlon went over with ease, a score Oldham will have wanted to avoid.

But up stepped Cole Geyer to catch the defence off guard at the line and power over from dummy-half — a play that’s become a trademark of his success this season.

After the break, Oldham went ahead through Jake Bibby in the corner – a try sparked by Geyer breaking out of dummy-half once again.

Jack Walker was next on the scoresheet, benefitting from a perfectly-weighted grubber from Tom Nisbet on the last when Oldham appeared to be running out of ideas.

Hunslet refused to go away, though, and they reduced the arrears when big Ant Walker bulldozed past the Roughyeds full-back to power through and score under the posts.

In the mood to finally put the game to bed, Oldham got to work. Bayley Liu restored the lead with a dazzling run, weaving his way over, before Dean added further breathing room, striking again just moments later.

The 16 men of Hunslet began to tire, and Ben Davies capitalised – choosing to back himself instead of offloading to Nisbet, he burst through to score. Moments later, Owen Farnworth joined the action with a powerful drive as Oldham brought up 50.

Luke Thomas got a try on debut, before Ryan Lannon scored after benefitting from a perfect Drinkwater pass.

Jake Bibby wrapped things up, scoring his second of the afternoon after being found in space following a slick shift.

The win sets up another home tie in the quarter-finals where Oldham will take on Midlands Hurricanes on the weekend of May 16/17 for a place in the final four.