OLDHAM enjoyed most of the possession and territorial advantage, but their opponents scored six tries to five.

Haven’t we heard that sort of thing before somewhere?

We have indeed - it’s the story of the Roughyeds’ season so far; more ball than opponents; more chances to score; more territorial advantage; but a struggle to convert pressure into points.

In this case, and not for the first time this season, Eagles had the greater speed and cutting edge on the counter to capitalise on Oldham errors and take the league points in a match which Oldham had dominated.

Eagles scored six tries to Oldham’s five, but while most of the Yorkshire side’s touchdowns were the direct result of home errors, Matt Diskin’s men were made to work very hard indeed for their points.

It was hard not to feel sympathy for the crestfallen Oldham players as they trooped off the pitch disconsolately at the final hooter.

They had given their all, without doubt, but it wasn’t good enough to prevent a fifth straight defeat.

The frustrating thing is that Roughyeds don’t look out of place in this most competitive of divisions, yet they struggle to get points on the board and thus to win matches, which is a pre-requisite of Championship survival.

Sheffield were no great shakes - far from it - but they had the knack of turning chances into points and it was no coincidence that five of their six tries were scored by pacy backs capable of going the distance - right-wing Rob Worrincy scored three, while left centre James Glover added two more.

Their purple patch came in the middle of the second half when they scored three converted tries in quarter of an hour to command a 32-12 lead.

Roughyeds, to their credit, didn’t let heads drop but rallied impressively with tries by Martyn Reilly, Liam Kirk and Tommy Brierley to give themselves a chance of winning the game.

They pulled it back to 32-28 with ten minutes left and Eagles down to 12 men after the dismissal of prop Tyler Dickinson for a high tackle.

The truth is they should never have been so far behind in the first place.

Scorers: Oldham -- goals, Abram 4/6; tries, Roberts, Abram, Reilly, Kirk, Brierley; Sheffield -- goals, Farrell 4/6; tries, Glover (2), Worrincy (3), Brown.

OLDHAM: Abram; Brierley, Bridge, Roberts, Ince; Charnock, Hewitt; Joy, Owen, Kirk, Bent, Langtree, Reilly. Subs: Gregory, Fletcher, Dupree, Nelmes.

SHEFFIELD: Johnson; Worrincy, Bower, Glover, Millar; Farrell. Thackeray; Wheeldon, G Burns, Dickinson; Hodgson, Davies, Brown. Subs: Davey, Broadbent, P Burns, James.

Ref: Michael Mannifield; HT: 6-14; Pens: 8-6.

Att: 475 (limited due to social distancing and Covid measures).