ROUGHYEDS registered their seventh straight win in League One after beating Rochdale Hornets 14-10 in what was a real bruising affair at the Crown Oil Arena, writes Kasey Smith.

Oldham started the better of the two sides, going two scores in front in the first fifteen minutes, but it was Hornets who finished the half the stronger, leading by two points at the break.

Hornets were effective at stopping Oldham’s usual attacking flair with the likes of Riley Dean and Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e limited on what damage they could inflict on the Rochdale line.

Dean, who found significant joy at Cougar Park last week, was well dealt with as Hornets regularly stopped him in his tracks on last plays.

Going forward, Rochdale’s Lewis Else, who has an abundance of pace, produced a blistering display and he was at the heart of Hornets’ attacks.

A mention has to go to the uncompromising Lameck Juma, a real handful, who kept producing huge carries for Gary Thornton’s side, exposing gaps in the Oldham defence.

But Roughyeds struck first after some Hornets indiscipline, and it was through Kieran Dixon who collected a perfectly-timed Jordan Turner pass to score, but Dixon could not add the extras.

Oldham, in the ascendancy, were peppering the Rochdale line and they got their second through Jack Johnson who grounded after a great run, and delayed offload, by full-back Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e. Dixon, again, missed the kick.

Despite the scoreline, Hornets were a threat going forward thanks to the tricky Lewis Else, back in the side after being out injured, who caused the Roughyeds line a huge number of problems.

Dixon was sent to the bin having denied Misi Taulapapa a run for a try after he put a short kick to the line, and in the immediate aftermath it was Luke Forber who dived over in the left corner, but Will Roberts could not add the two.

Hornets grew in confidence, and after forcing a goal-line drop-out, they sensed there were more points on offer.

Else, orchestrating, laid a deft cross-field kick to a wide open space on the left which Forber duly pounced on as they took a two point half-time lead thanks to Roberts’ conversion.

In the second half, both sides put in huge amounts of work with neither able to find the vital final pass to score.

There were lengthy stoppages with treatment given to Oldham’s Brad Gallagher, who walked off with an oxygen mask on and latterly Danny Craven who looked to have suffered a leg injury.

Hornets even had a try disallowed when Lameck Juma stole the ball at the play-the-ball with Will Roberts grounding but the referee ruled the markers were not square.

Both sides continued to trade blows but as the clock ticked down, Oldham found something from somewhere – as the top sides so often do – and it was Dean who managed to dart through a gap.

He offloaded to Aldridge, who ran some 20 odd metres and offloaded to Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e who dived over to take the lead late on as the packed-out Sandy Lane end erupted.

Scorers

Rochdale: goals, Will Roberts 1/2; tries, Forber x2

Oldham: goals, Dixon 1/3; tries, Dixon, Jack Johnson, Laulu-Togaga’e

ROCHDALE: McNally; Juma, Taulapapa, Harrop, Forber; Will Roberts, Else; Killan, Roden, Nelmes, Forster, Straugheir, Whittel. Subs: Rudd, Dean Roberts, Andrade, Meadows

OLDHAM: Laulu-Togaga’e; Agoro, Jack Johnson, J.Turner, Dixon; Craven, Dean; Farnworth, Wildie, J.Chapelhow, Taylor, Gallagher, Moran. Subs: Aldridge, T.Chapelhow, Josh Johnson, Sidlow (all used). 18th man: Astley.

Ref: Denton Arnold HT: 10-8 Pens: 6-5 Att: 2,187