After last week’s epic second half come back, which saw us secure what was ultimately a hollow cup victory against Liverpool St Helens, Oldham returned their attention to the league as they welcomed Tyldesley to Manor Park. Oldham won the reverse fixture earlier in the season when a second half surge produced a lop-sided score line in what for 60 minutes or so was a very competitive game,. I get the feeling that we are all starting to enjoy these local fixtures with the shorter journeys. Which is just as well as the shenanigans associated with the restructure of rugby in our region show no sign of being resolved any time soon. Perhaps we should investigate alternatives ways to overcome this impasse. A papal bull perhaps or maybe try to secure the services of Antonio Gutterres to transform the primordial soup that rugby currently exists in to a living, breathing magnificent organism. In truth, so deep rooted and entrenched is much of the emotion associated with this issue that I suspect neither would be any more effective than the efforts that our club has put into this issue over the last 20 years. Might be worth a phone call though.

I arrived at the ground to see Steve Tyrell tending his vegetable plots. Is there anything that man can’t or won’t turn his hand to? I’m not sure whether he is a good example of retirement or not. Apparently his onions were first class and he has a healthy patch of rhubarb. Now that is lovely stuff if you have never had it. Rhubarb and ginger crumple with custard that you can stand your spoon up in. That is proper comfort food. I for one look forward to the day when the clubs annual dinner is all sourced from the club car park. So there's a target for you Toby. You can move onto livestock next.

We seem to have so many lottery's these days, not that I have any success despite my investment in attempting to become a millionaire. Did you know that you have as much chance of pulling a single black grain of rice from a bath full of white rice, blindfolded, as you have of winning the lottery? I might as well chuck my hard earned cash in the bin. That why you never win. Anyhow, I think we should have an Oldham First team player availability lottery. The chances of anyone correctly identifying the first team squad is so remote that the roll-over would quickly surpass the size of any lottery in history and would be a fantastic money spinner for the club. Just a thought Mr Barber, just a thought. I know you are always looking for ways to make a buck and save a buck. More power to your elbow of course. I quite rightly bigged up Ryan Arundale last week and guess what? He’s not available this week. Last time I do that I can tell you. But Lewis (aka Steve) Townsend returned from his skiing trip......skiing trip who does he think he is David Beckham? Come on Steve, get a grip. Anyhow, his presence meant that we had a decent 18 available despite the injury and absentee list. Oh yes and Ryan North was a very late cry-off. It was at half time I believe before we found out and so we had 17 available. For heaven’s sake these are the best rugby playing days of your life and it will all be over before you realise. Don’t take it for granted because the time is fast approaching when you will no longer be able to play at this level and you will regret that you didn’t give it your best shot. There are a lot of you who should take note! But we are fortunate that we have over 20 players who are at home at this level and so the 17 available were a worthy 17.

Just look at that grand fella Bobby Cullen. Came to us three years ago and has immersed himself in the club. Played week in and week out, never missed a trip to Cumbria, loved training and performing. But a back injury has cut short his playing career at the tender age of 33. That is quite young for a loose head prop. Bobby has brought so much to our club over the past 3 1/2 years both on and off the pitch and we hope he stays part of a family for years to come. The bar takings will take a massive hit if he doesn't so stay with us Bobby, stay with us!

As the match commenced on a grim grey gnarly day, Tyldesley started with purpose, vim and vigour and looked anything but a team that hadn’t won a game this year. They score a lot of points and early on you could see why as their backs and forwards combined well to pose problems for the Oldham defence. We appeared to have weathered the early storm that we have become accustomed to but the Tyldesley stand-off has a sweet left foot and his spiral kicks travel a long long way. One of these from close to his own line seemed so soar on a thermal of warm air and such was its time in the air that it almost defied gravity. I suspect the world’s greatest physicist Sir Stephen Hawkins could not have explained how it travelled from a to b. But it was a sight to behold that’s for sure. It was eventually fielded deep in the Oldham 22 and our own touch finder had a miraculous journey of its own. As it arrowed surely towards the safely of the touchline, it seemed to develop a mind of its own as, at the last minute, it decided to turn sharp left and stay in the field of play when everything else about its trajectory suggested that it would comfortably make touch. NASA beware all is not as it should be. A very lazy Oldham runner was stood more or less exactly where the misbehaving object finally fell to earth and whilst he didn’t make any attempt to intervene in the proceedings, neither had he made an attempt to retreat, as the frivolities of the night before had clearly affected his judgement and the man in the middle awarded a penalty’ Tyldesley opted for a scrum where the kick was taken from and shortly after were pounding our line. We stole the ball but our clearance kick went sideways or perhaps even marginally backwards to give Tyldesley a 5m line out. No doubt who got the better of that particular kicking exchange. They executed the lineout and soon after crossed the whitewash to lead 5-0. The conversion was missed.

Oldham then managed to put some phases together which saw them progress towards the Tyldesley 22. This continuity finally pulled defenders out of position and created an overlap and Charlie Roscoe was given a clear run down the wing and rounded under the posts to give McEwan an easy conversion and Oldham led 7-5. Oldham continued to dominate and increased the lead five minutes later when John Souter dived over from close range to make the score 12-.7. A difficult conversion was missed.

But Tyldesley were still very much in the match and were very much on top for the remaining 10 minutes. They spent the last 5 camped on the Oldham line and their forwards put in a monumental effort to even up the scoreboard. They had a couple of 5m scrums and several catch and drives from lineouts but the Oldham pack were resolute in defence and refused to yield. Tyldesley expended a lot of energy during this period but it came to nothing as an Oldham turnover brought the first half to a close and Oldham led 12-7.

The scoreboard was a fair reflection of the balance of play and reflected a very even contest. The scrums were competitive with Hannon McEwan and Souter having a tough struggle against a larger pack. Blomeley, Hackman and Wood were having to work hard to contain the Tyldesley ball carriers and each won turnovers at key moments to relieve pressure. Taylor and Takila won good lineout ball and provided energy around the pitch. The new half back combination of Barber and Megram looked tidy and efficient and Watson and Davies were tight in defence and dangerous in attack. The back three of Froggatt, Townsend and Roscoe are a powerful unit in attack and defence but more importantly were alert and well positioned when the howitzer was unleashed. The half time team talk was about tempo as Oldham believed that the larger Tyldesley pack would fire in the second half on the Manor Park pitch.

And the higher tempo immediately paid dividends as Souter scored his second short range try which McEwan converted. Shortly afterwards Roscoe backed himself when he saw some space outside and touched down by the posts for a bonus point try and McEwan’s conversion made the score 26-7. Oldham’s tails were up now and as Tyldesley started to tire and suffered a couple of injuries, they started to run riot. They saw and ruthlessly exploded mismatches all over the pitch and we saw tries from Brennan, Barber, Watson Graham and a hat trick try from Charlie Roscoe. McEwan converted 4 of these to make it 7 from 9 on the afternoon.

Final Score: Oldham 1st 59 v Tyldesley 5

Some of the passing and movement was of the highest order with some excellent support play. The interplay between the forwards and backs was great to watch at times. Whilst the opposition was tiring you still have to see the opportunity, make the pass, run a line, support the play etc. We left a number of try’s out their too with Taylor being held up over the line when he tried to run beneath the posts rather than touching down. Charlie Roscoe took the MOM with some strong runs and great defence at full back - others were in contention but his 3 tries however gave him the nod.

Tyldesley have had a tough time in terms of results this year in what is a very competitive league. Their first half performance belied their league position and they could easily have gone in level at half time. They have a big pack that makes real progress if you allow them to get on the front foot. They were a bit of a handful especially in the first half and Oldham were hard pressed to contain them. The number 10 had a howitzer of a boot which is a potent attacking weapon and gets them out of trouble too. Your back three have to be disciplined to cope with this. They stuck at it until the end and that kind of doggedness should help them through the remainder of the campaign and we wish well for the rest of the season.

The referee, Francesco Cammisa, on exchange from the Yorkshire Referees Society was just 19 years of age. His performance belied his tender years. He was always up with play so was always in the right position to make a decision. That fills you with confidence straight away. The penalty count was noticeably lower as he allowed the game to flow. The tempo of this game was very fast at times but he looked the fittest person on the pitch. As ever, there were some unpleasant comments from the side-line about some of his decisions but we really should keep these to ourselves. We all know best and we all know the laws more intimately than anybody else. Well in that case, we should pat ourselves on the back for being so clever and if we really are that good we should get a whistle and a pair of boots and put something back and start refereeing. Otherwise zip it. Well done sir we need young people who are prepared to do this week in and week out and you deserve our support.

Oldham did what was necessary. We stuck to a game plan which was based on not trying to go too wide to early and allow the forwards to establish a platform. We played with more patience than is often the case. As Tyldesley tired in the second half, they started to fall off or miss tackles that were being made comfortably in the first half. Oldham were able to get the backs more involved in the game and they exposed some mismatches and ran riot at times and in truth we looked dangerous whenever and wherever we had the ball.

So what is the difference between somebody who is very strong, resolute and determined person and somebody who is very stupid? Views on that would differ quite widely I would suggest. However, I would proffer that somebody who suffers the biggest ever defeat in commons history having already created a record of losing three votes in a single day and still doesn’t see the need to look at things differently, must by any definition fall into the category of very stupid.. And what of Jeremy? A leader who shows no leadership! What is your parties’ position on Brexit? Come on man, spit it out, we deserve to know. If you are a leader, show some leadership or your support will wane. The jury is still out on him. As for Donald, who now wants billions to pay for a wall that he said the Mexicans were going to pay for, and has thrown his dummy out as Congress has said no...............we already knew didn’t we.

So, onward and upward we hope. Next week we travel to Trafford MV. It’s one all between us this year thus far and it’s always a tough place to go to so training, training, training........please please please.

Report by Dave Roscoe