Badly drawn, boys.
22-all: Hornets and Oldham in derby stalemate.
Both Martin Hall and Steve Molloy will be thinner on top this morning, having
pulled their hair out over yesterday’s frustrating draw.
Both teams had ample chance to put the seal on the game, but a combination
of poor discipline, lousy refereeing and lack of focus at vital times left
everyone just a little bit unfulfilled.
But it was Hornets who went off with the gun. With props Southern and Stephenson
pounding the Oldham defence back and Watson (pictured) spraying neat flat passes around,
Oldham were forced into early defensive duties. The pressure told after quarter
of an hour, when Southern and Pachniuk combined, Nanyn entered the line and
his neat pass posted James Bunyan in wide-out.
Just five minutes later, it was Oldham’s turn to launch a close range
attack - Barber the provider, Doran the recipient and the Biffs level after
20 minutes.
Just past the half hour, niggling Oldham full-back Dodd got ten minutes to
ruminate on what an idiot he was - and from the resulting penalty, Hornets
marched downfield to send Matt Long crashing in. Nanyn's conversion attempt
seemed to drift inside the near post, but to the surprise of the Hornets
contingent, the touchies waved it away. Half time 6-10.
The second half was a half of two halves (or is that two quarters?). Oldham
began like a train. With Hornets struggling to find their shape and rhythm
- and with a succession of penalties conceded through a combination of, poor
ball control and even worse discipline - the home side sent Barber, Farrell
and Morley in succession through a dishevelled defence to see Oldham 22-12
up with barely quarter of an hour of the second half gone.
But slowly Hornets steadied and they began to re-establish their pattern.
on 64 minutes, new boy Jon Roper found himself on the end of a swift passing
move to score. From the kick off possession, Hornets worked the ball close
to the Oldham line where Richard Pachniuk kicked Oldham right in the spuds
with a one yard sucker try from acting half. 22 a piece - amazing!
Oldham responded by hoofing the kick off straight into the stand and, instead
of setting up field position for a last ditch attack, Mick Nanyn took the
penalty shot from half way. While it had the legs it faded to the right of
the posts and, with the clock ticking down, both sides descended into drop
goal fever - Watson and Roden exchanging flapping efforts.
In the closing minute, both sides also exchanged bizarre kicks up/downfield
which respective full backs gratefully swept up.
And that was that - 22-all and Oldham’s dubious record of over two
years without a home win over Hornets continues. Our man of the match was
Ian Watson - his industrious, fiery style was a pain in Oldham’s backside
all afternoon.
While both coaches reflected that a draw was about right on the day, they’ll
both also know that this was point lost. Hornets switched off completely
after half time to put Oldham in a matchwinning position, only for Oldham
to fall asleep and let Hornets back into a game that most people round me
thought had gone.
But credit to Hornets where it’s due, they found the character to dig
deep and drag themselves back from the brink. And any game that sends the
Oldham fans home disappointed will do for me.
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