ROCHDALE HORNETS 18, OLDHAM 17

  by 'whining' Roger Halstead

DANNY Wood and Latham Tawhai stuck the boot into Oldham’s top-nine hopes as Rochdale came from behind to snatch an 18-17 win at Spotland yesterday.

It was another thriller, another close thing - and another narrow defeat for an Oldham side that seems destined never to get a lucky break.

Substitute Wood, an Oldham old boy (jeez, they'll claim credit for anything) kicked a superb penalty goal midway through the second half to give Hornets a decisive lead and then thumped a mighty 40-20 downfield to keep up the pressure.

  Scrum-half Tawhai kicked the Roughyeds to death when a second-half thunderstorm called for a change of tactics.

  It ended in heartbreak for Steve Molloy’s Nearly Men, who defied the worst injury crisis in the club’s five-year existence to give third-placed Hornets a huge fright.

  By holding Leigh to four points, Whitehaven to three, Huddersfield to two and Rochdale to one, Oldham have proved that, with Molloy in charge, they can live with the NFP’s top teams. They believe they can cause a stir in the play-offs. But will they qualify? Ninth place lies tantalisingly within reach of Dewsbury, Oldham and Workington, but the Nearly Men must beat the Cumbrians on Sunday and the Yorkshiremen on the following Wednesday night to keep hopes alive.

  They can be encouraged by their derby performance. Despite the absence of Mark Sibson David Gibbons, John Braddish, Phil Farrell, Keith Brennan and Paul Norton they deservedly led 17-10 at half-time.

Hornets played fast, exciting rugby early on to score tries by Casey Mayberry and Richard Packniuk, the latter set up by the outstanding Tawhai.

  Despite a Jon Goddard try, the Roughyeds were up against it until Gavin Dodd broke superbly up the middle.

  It was the signal for Oldham to command the rest of the first half. Dropping out from under the sticks three times in eight minutes, Hornets never got a sniff for long periods as Dodd, Gareth Barber, Neil Roden, John Hough, Bryan Henare and the superb Anthony Gibbons took charge.

  Gibbons, switched to loose-forward to fill his injured brother’s shoes, produced a stunning first-half display.

  With Gibbons - and Oldham - asking questions of the Rochdale defence, Roden sent Lee Doran through Packniuk’s tackle for a try which Barber goaled. At 10-10 Will Cowell was held up over the line, Sean Cooper was again forced to push the ball dead, Hornets were pressured into error, and Barber took on the defence single-handedly to score Oldham’s third try.

  The stand-off added the goal and then tacked on a drop goal to send Oldham in at half-time in buoyant mood. It wasn’t to last. Paul Smith burst through Barber’s tackle with the second half only three minutes old to set up position from which a Tawhai crosskick had Oldham in trouble before the scrum-half sent in Smith.

  The conversion by Warren Ayres cut Oldham’s lead to 17-16, whereupon the Hornets forwards stepped up the tempo, first by driving Doran back 15 metres and then by knocking the stuffing out of Danny Guest in a gang tackle.

  The torrential downpour made handling difficult, but Tawhai proved the man for all seasons. His kicking game ultimately proved the difference between the sides, although Oldham were desperately unlucky to concede the crucial penalty which produced Wood’s winner.

  A Tawhai kick smashed against Goddard and rebounded to Hough, who was judged to be offside. If he was, it was by inches.

  To make matters worse, the Roughyeds lost halves Roden and Barber through injury and then had claims for a penalty turned down in the dying seconds.

Makes yer heart bleed.