HUNSLET 22 OLDHAM 22

WHEN Liam Copland went in for Oldham’s fourth try just after half-time and Martyn Ridyard landed a majestic goal off the touchline for a 22-4 lead, Roughyeds fans must have thought they were on a winner.

Oldham then looked certain winners, but credit Hunslet with the fighting spirit and the self-belief to get well on top in the last half hour when they scored 18 unanswered points (four tries and a conversion) to draw level with 10 minutes to spare.

“To be honest, it felt like a point dropped, rather than a point gained,” summed up coach Stuart Littler, an understandable assessment in the circumstances.

In the wider context, though, Roughyeds picked up a point away from home against one of Betfred League One’s traditional heartland clubs which is predicted, at the very least, to be in the play-offs at the end of the season.

Other factors came into play too. Oldham had first use of a fierce downfield wind and Hunslet had it in the second half.

Moreover, Littler’s men suffered a series of injury blows which disrupted the pattern, forced players to operate out of position and played a significant role in the transfer of team authority from Oldham in the first half to Hunslet in the second.

The game was only 20 minutes old when centre Calvin Wellington was forced to quit because he was feeling unwell. He went straight up the tunnel - and was taken away to hospital.

Early in the second half, scrum-half Dave Hewitt limped off with a hip injury and with four forwards on the bench

- the trend these days - Littler had to shift players around to fill the gaps.

Callum Cameron left the pack to fill-in at centre for Wellington, while Brad Jinks, the starting hooker, left the bench later to do a job at half-back in Hewitt’s shop.

All this, and Jack Arnold’s injury too, put a lot of added pressure on Emmerson Whittel, Tom Spence and Luke Nelmes, all of whom played with energy and enthusiasm to keep Roughyeds in the game when it threatened to run away from them.

Roughyeds looked good in the first half when, with Ridyard calling the shots at stand-off and with the powerful wind in their favour, they scored tries by Ben Holcroft, Owen Restall and Dave Hewitt to lead 16-4 at half-time.

The converted Copland try took them out to 22-4 and then came the Hunslet fightback against a side that was badly disrupted by injury and which, hitherto, had used up a lot of energy and stamina by doing an amazing amount of work on defence.

In many ways, Roughyeds were their own worst enemies, conceding seven of the first half’s nine penalties to offer up heaps of possession and position to the home side.

Even with the wind in their favour, Roughyeds worked desperately hard on both attack and defence early on to warrant their 18 point lead, but by giving so much ball to their opponents with a careless lack of discipline, they paid for their indiscretions later when they seemed to run out of energy. Dom Horn got Hunslet back in the contest with a strong surge for the line in the 50th minute, followed by three home tries in seven minutes by right-centre Jack Render and two by right-wing Wayne Rettie.

Oldham focus now switches to Sunday’s clash with bottom-of-the-table West Wales Raiders at the Vestacare Stadium - a golden opportunity for Littler’s men to pick up their first league win.