IT was a long time to wait for such a poor performance as this.

Bitterly disappointing for Oldham fans, who watched this pre-season warm-up game on Featherstone's very own online TV facility, it must have been even harder to digest for Matt Diskin and his backroom staff.

Roughyeds have an enormous amount of work to do before the start of the season proper in a couple of weeks.

Players don't miss as many tackles as Oldham did on Saturday if they are mentally switched-on and physically tuned-up to take on the challenge of going head-to-head with a team and a club tipped by many to be in Super League before the year is out.

The collective appetite for raising the bar sufficiently to at least give Rovers a run for their money wasn't there and, for me, that was the biggest disappointment arising from a 58-10 defeat and the leaking of no fewer than 12 tries.

But we need to keep things in perspective. Let's not panic on the back of one admittedly timid and wishy-washy offering before the real stuff has even got going.

To start with, it is well known in the game that, in terms of funding, budgets, fanbase and strength in depth both on and off the field, the Championship comprises the haves and the have-nots.

Metaphorically-speaking, it has two divisions and it is fair to say, as Oldham would agree, that Featherstone will be pushing to finish top of the stronger, while Roughyeds will surpass expectations if they more than hold their own in the weaker.

In that respect they were behind the black ball long before the first tackle in a year was made in anger.

So dominant were Rovers' forwards like big Craig Kopczak and James Harrison, the starting props, that Oldham were constantly on the back foot and, for long periods, doing nothing but tackling.

That's bound to sap the energy of any team let alone one that hasn't played for a full year.

Apart from an early and solitary left-wing raid in which Danny Langtree and Ryan Ince set debut-boy Joe Hartley free up the touchline, we saw little of Roughyeds as an attacking force in the first half.

They opened their account, however, after half an hour when substitute half-back James Barran's cleverly-executed grubber to the left-hand corner produced a try for Ince.

Ince, like Barran, was one of Oldham's better players in the first half. The visitors trailed 36-4 at half-time, but they saw a bit more of the ball when play resumed.

Even so, Rovers breached Oldham's first-line defence another four times to take a 54-4 lead before Matthew Fletcher scored a second himself when backing up sharply, taking an inside pass and crashing over under the sticks.

Dave Hewitt kicked the goal to reduce the deficit to 54-10, whereupon the home side extended its lead with a late try by Jacob Doyle.

Ince and Barran were the pick of Oldham's backs, while Martyn Reilly, Luke Nelmes, Tyler Dupree, Fletcher and Dec Gregory were the best of the forwards.

Roughyeds will surely benefit from this run-out. They can only go better – and they won't be playing Featherstone's all-stars every week.

Starting line-up: Abram; Brierley, Roberts, Ince, Hartley; Charnock, Hewitt; Kirk, Owen, Joy, Langtree, Bent, Reilly.

Interchanges: Heaton, Nelmes, Dupree, Fletcher, Sheriffe, Green, Bridge, Barran, Holcroft, Gregory.