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Hornets Reserves 38 - 28 Oldham Reserves

29/ 4/2008

Hornets’ Reserves made it three wins from three games when they met a spirited Oldham team at Castleton Sports Centre last Thursday.

It was a game with super tries, a plethora of penalties, and lots of mistakes.

The hosts enjoyed some early pressure, but in the sixth minute Chris Baines charged down a clearance kick on the Hornets’ 22 and collected the ball to score. Adam Jeffries converted.

Hornets, who have just secured sponsorship from Carcraft, surged forward but found it difficult to breach a dogged Oldham defence.

They had to wait until the 21st minute for their incessant pressure to tell, when man of the match Todd O’Brien sneaked in for the first of his three tries. Chris Hough converted.

Six minutes later O’Brien repeated his feat and Hough added the extras to give Hornets a 12-6 lead. Oldham refused to buckle, and a well-executed move instigated by Baines saw Dale Evans score out wide. With half time approaching, five minutes of madness by the Oldham rearguard gave Hornets the upper hand.

Evans spilled a high cross kick from Hough and Benji Lloyd seized on the loose ball to shrug off a tackler and score. On the stroke of half time Greg Hale’s tremendous flick pass sent Chris Charlesworth crashing over.

Hough converted for a 22-10 lead.

Early in the second half, Oldham compounded their errors, and it was that man O’Brien who again dived in to score.

The game then entered a scrappy phase, with mistakes and penalties galore from both teams. The hosts conceded three penalties in quick succession and Oldham accepted the gift when Gareth Schofield burst through for a try which Jeffries converted.

Hornets responded almost immediately when Michael Brown’s cut out pass found Charlesworth who sliced through to score.

It looked as though Hornets might enjoy a runaway victory when O’Brien scored his third which wasconverted by Hough. But Oldham were made of sterner stuff and on the back of more Hornets’ indiscipline Jeffries sold an outrageous dummy and nipped in to score. Jeffries made it a six-pointer.

With 10 minutes left the visitors reduced the deficit to 10 points, when Hodson put the finishing touches to a flowing move.

Hough finally ended Oldham’s resistance when he slotted over a penalty following a high tackle on the impressive Tom Wild.

The fact that he chose to kick rather than run the ball was a mark of respect to gutsy opponents who had made a major contribution to an enthralling and entertaining game.