IF rugby league fans in Oldham and surrounding areas want to see entertaining rugby, winning rugby and tries galore all wrapped in a parcel labelled ‘live sporting entertainment’ they could do worse than give Roughyeds a try at the Vestacare Stadium.

This was their fourth win a row and their first at Cougar Park since they knocked Keighley out of the Challenge Cup eight visits and 12 years ago.

Yes, it really is that long since an Oldham side travelled to Bronte country on the edge of the Ribble Valley and returned home victorious.

But this time it was never in doubt from the very first set of the game in which Roughyeds went from their own 20-metre zone to Keighley’s equivalent and then forced an error on the Cougars’ first set to gain immediate attacking momentum.

With only 16 minutes on the clock, Liam Bent and skipper Gareth Owen had scored converted tries and Roughyeds were on their way.

They crossed for nine tries in total to take their aggregate over their last four victories to an astonishing 37 – 14 at West Wales Raiders, eight against Whitehaven at home in the 1895 Cup, six in a 34-18 win against Coventry Bears and another nine at Cougar Park.

“How good is that then?” queried club captain Owen, who acknowledges the squad has come on in leaps and bounds since it responded positively to an internal inquiry after the home defeat by Hunslet at Easter.

That was Roughyeds’ third loss in the league out of six played and management was keen to reassure the players they still had the full backing and the confidence of head coach Naylor and chairman Chris Hamilton.

Since that pow-wow in the club’s corridors of power, the squad has not looked back and has hardly put a foot wrong in winning matches on the spin and consolidating its current third-place spot in Betfred League 1.

Keighley were hardly given a look-in as rampant Roughyeds controlled possession, kicked intelligently and made sure that most of the action took place at the Cougars’ end of the field.

The visitors scored nine tries by Bent, Owen, Paul Crook, Danny Langtree, Dave Hewitt, Zack McComb, Jack Holmes and Emmerson Whittel (two) with eight goals – seven conversions and a penalty goal – coming from ace marksman Crook.

The returns of Danny Bridge, after a nine-month suspension, and of his second-row partner Langtree, after a brief stay at Hull FC, were massive factors in the team’s upwardly-mobile form spiral. Another, without any shadow of doubt, was the recall of the hugely-experienced Crook at outside-half.

Now on the squad’s coaching panel, the former Rochdale Hornet has a voice in the dressing room as well as in the coaching forum and it would appear he is doing a great job as middle-man as well as directing operations on the field and kicking goals as accurately as he has ever done – 29 from 37 shots since he got back in the side at West Wales and 21 from 24 attempts in total against Whitehaven, Coventry and Keighley.

All the signs look promising for the second half of the season, starting with this Sunday’s action at the Vestacare Stadium (3pm) when Doncaster visit in round two of the 1895 Cup.

Team: Hawkyard; Johnson, McComb, Calland, Holmes, Crook, Hewitt; Joy, Owen, Spencer, Bridge, Langtree, Bent. Subs: Whittel, Wilkinson, Law, Gwaze.

Attendance: 836.