Roughyeds show fight against full-time Broncos

Oldham delivered a spirited performance against the London Broncos, showing plenty of fight, but ultimately fell to a 25–8 defeat.

The Broncos showed their quality as a full-time side by extinguishing hopes of an Oldham comeback late on. Oldham had threatened on several occasions, including a disallowed try from Harvey Makin, while a controversial reversal of a goal-line drop-out in London’s favour, with the Broncos scoring just moments later.

Roughyeds made several changes, with Kieran Dixon returning at full-back, Josh Drinkwater back in the halves, and Adam Milner named at hooker in place of Matty Wildie, who was attending a family wedding.

The contest was a feisty affair, with referee Matty Lynn kept busy as tempers flared and aggression threatened to boil over on more than one occasion.

The decisive moment arrived when Oldham seemed certain to draw level heading into the last ten minutes of the game. Drinkwater lofted what looked like the perfect pass for Bibby to dive over in the corner – only for Liam Tindall, at full stretch, to pluck the ball from his grasp and sprint the length of the field for a devastating try.

It was Roughyeds who opened the scoring early on through a Kieran Dixon penalty but London took control after the first quarter, executing a swift shift for Alex Max to dive over.

On the half-hour mark, London struck again, doubling their lead when Reagan Campbell-Gillard got the better of Kieran Dixon after Hawkins’ low kick to the line wreaked havoc.

Roughyeds came out firing after the break, and after being awarded three six agains in a row, the pressure paid with Cole Geyer bursting through to score out of dummy half.

London reasserted their authority on the game, with Robert Mathias going over from a similar shift which paid off in the first forty. The try, however, came under somewhat controversial circumstances. It followed a long kick from Tom Nisbet that was initially ruled a goal-line drop-out after Hawkins was judged to have touched the ball before it went out of play. Following consultation with the touch judge, that decision was overturned.

Then came the moment which could have turned the game on its head, had Drinkwater’s pass reached Bibby. Unfortunately for Oldham it resulted in four more points for London.

Roughyeds battled on, and had another claim for a try when Harvey Makin crashed over the line from close range, only to be ruled held up, with replays appearing to show the ball grounded on the whitewash.

Finley Glare scored for London late on, and Hawkins slotted a one-pointer moments before the hooter.

Attention now turns to this weekend’s cup clash against Dewsbury Rams.

Header image by James Bamsey.