Boro denied as rivals hit back
LITTLEBOROUGH allowed the lead to slip from their hands as they lost out to Oldham in an entertaining derby clash.
Oldham were immediately on the front foot at kick off but a fine kick from Boro captain Andy Walton found touch and good pressure from the visitors led to a penalty award which was well converted by Nathan Coop to open up the scoring.
It took some strong tackling from Chris Kolbuck and Mathew Goldthorpe to stave off the home side’s bid to hit back immediately.
Having weathered the storm, Boro registered the first try of the afternoon.
The ball was moved through the threequarters and, after an unortodox pass by Andy Walton, a great break was made by fullback Nathan Coop.
Possession was moved from Jack Whittles to fellow centre Nathan Ripley who crossed the line for Boro, his try converted by Coop.
Despite good work from Sam Dickinson with a good tackle, Oldham’s forwards applied strong pressure from a lineout, leading to their first points with a try. But Boro were again quick to get back on front foot, finding themselves in Oldham’s 22 metres courtesy of Mark Murgatroyd and the move led to a further penalty to Boro and success again for Coop.
Once again good strong defence by Henry Ashworth quelled Oldham’s attack and five minutes before the break a further converted penalty from Coop stretched Boro’s lead to 16-5 at the break.
The second half commenced with Boro substituting a couple of players and after much pressure from the host team, Oldham they crossed the line for their second try.
A further successful penalty from Coop could not prevent Oldham building momentum, and they created more pressure in Boro’s 22 metres, leading to their third try, this time a converted effort.
Unusually, Boro missed a penalty attempt and against all the odds the host team crossed the line for their fourth try and conversion to take the lead for the first time in the match at 24-19 and that’s how it finished.
Once again Boro had shown their positive capabilities but just couldn’t make it tell and were most unfortunate not to get a positive result.
For his contribution of 14 points and his quality rugby from full back, Boro’s man of the match award went to Nathan Coop but all the players deserved a clap on the back.