OLDHAM RLFC 12 LOCK LANE 22
A pro-am upset was always on the cards here - and we certainly got one.
In a Betfred Challenge Cup second-round tie on a stormy, bitterly cold Sunday evening at the Vestacare Stadium, the amateurs from Castleford in Yorkshire fully deserved their win which excited chairman Mick Wildey described afterwards as “the greatest win in our long history.”
They now go into tonight’s draw for round three, while Roughyeds go back to the drawing board and face a wait of nearly eight weeks before they start their Betfred League One campaign towards the end of March.
The lights truly went out on Oldham when there were two floodlight failures on a night when little went right for a new-look Roughyeds squad that included 13 out of 17 debutants.
In stark contrast, the Lock Lane players had been together for ages and their familiarity, set against Oldham’s brand-new background, was a significant factor in the Roughyeds’ first-ever cup defeat by amateurs.
Throw in the high winds, incessant driving sleet from shortly after kick-off, wet ball and freezing-cold hands and you have all the ingredients for a cup shock.
The conditions were a great leveller and the last thing Oldham wanted with so many new guys in the team.
Having said that, Lock Lane played the conditions far better than the home side and, crucially, got early points on the board, while defending magnificently from start to finish.
It would be tempting to conclude that defence carried them through to round three, but they scored four tries to Oldham’s two to ram home their all-round superiority.
Roughyeds enjoyed early supremacy, but they couldn’t get points on the board and Lock Lane hit back to open the scoring when man-of-the-match stand-off Nathan Fozzard hoisted a towering kick into the swirling, sleet-filled night sky.
The ball disappeared into the abyss above the lights and, not surprisingly, got the better of the full-back as Fozzard followed up and scored.
He couldn’t convert his own try, but four minutes later his clever inside ball caught out the home defence and full-back Lewis Price sailed in for a second Lock Lane try, this time converted by Fozzard for a 10-0 lead.
Oldham were always chasing the game after that and as Lock Lane grew in stature and in self-belief, the home side made loads of handling errors and clearly felt the pressure .
They emerged for the second half on top and took only five minutes to get back into the game with a Hewitt-inspired Jason Muranka try, which Martyn Ridyard improved.
At 6-10, Oldham were right back in it, but there then followed an incident which was to have a major bearing on the outcome.
Ridyard and centre Will Cooke sent winger Tommy Brierley flying in at the corner, but he lost control of the ball while touching down with not a defender anywhere near him.
A try at that stage would have drawn Oldham level with the kick to come, but the let-off raised Lock Lane spirits again at the very time they looked vulnerable and there for the taking.
After that, Roughyeds often spilled possession and missed tackles allowed Danny Holmes to score a third Lock Lane try which Fozzard goaled.
Roughyeds hit back with a solo Hewitt score in the 67th minute (12-16), but more great defensive work -- and some good fortune, it has to be said -- kept the visitors in the ascendancy and they wrapped it up in the last minute when captain Chris Siddons, a big prop, crashed over for their fourth try.
OLDHAM: Restall; Brierley, Cooke, Wellington, Holcroft; Ridyard, Hewitt; Nelmes, Wright, Spencer, Muranka, Ferry, Whittel. Subs: Slater, Andrade, Thornton, Coventry.
LOCK LANE: Price; Bloomer, Duncan, Newbould, Moon; Fozzard, Butler; J Cranswick, Savage, Siddons, Herczeg, Holmes, Maskill. Subs: Punchard, Robinson, Mawson, Smith.
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