FEATHERSTONE Rovers put on a disciplined and hard-working display at Post Office Road to comfortably beat Oldham 28-12, cementing their place in the 2025 Betfred Championship play-offs with a regular season game to spare.
Rovers led 14-6 at half-time after controlling the first 40 minutes with excellent defensive work and a clever kicking game in the opening 40 minutes, chalking up converted Derrell Olpherts and Bailey O’Connor tries following an early Ben Reynolds penalty goal
Oldham were still just in the contest at half-time after they capitalised on a rare defensive slip which allowed a late Ryan Lannon touchdown and a Kieron Dixon conversion.
O’Connor stretched Rovers lead early in the second half with Reynolds converting before Oldham notched a Whitehead try to make it 20-12.
But a try from Jimmy Beckett stretched Rovers into a match-clinching lead, effectively killing the game off with 20 minutes to go.
Head coach Paul Cooke hatched a game-plan along the lines of the strategy which saw Rovers beat Oldham at Boundary Park in the 1895 Cup semi-finals
With Ryan Hampshire and Callum Turner both missing, he paired skipper Danny Addy and Ben Reynolds at half-back and brought Connor Wynne, Will Jubb, Gadwin Springer and Nathan Wilde back into his starting line-up along with Beckett, while Connor Jones, King Vuniyayawa, Robson Stevens and Jordan Williams made up the bench.
Oldham’s starting line-up included seven signings recruited since their 1895 Cup semi-final defeat at Boundary Park.
Rovers kick off down the hill towards the Post Office Road end and their first three efficient defensive sets hemmed Oldham inside their own half.
Oldham coughed up a penalty for offside in the eighth minute and Reynolds clipped it over to give Rovers a 2-0 lead.
Rovers carried hard going forward, engineering the space for Reynolds to kick through towards the left corner for the chasing Webb, but Oldham scrambled to snuff out the chance.
With 20 minutes gone, Rovers had succeeded in playing most of the game thus far in Oldham’s half with hard tackling, defensive organisation and a pinpoint kicking game keeping the visitors at arm’s length.
They made the important breakthrough in the 26th minute when Olpherts touched down in the left corner, capitalising on clever work from Reynolds, who then converted from close to the touchline.
With ten minutes left in the first half, Rovers’ solid defensive work had let Oldham get nowhere near their try-line with ball in hand.
As Rovers looked to stretch their 8-0 lead, Reynolds clipped the ball through the Oldham defensive line, but Addy was hustled off the ball in the in-goal area.
But with five minutes to go the interval, O’Connor streaked clear down the left to touch down behind the posts with the easy conversion from Reynolds giving Rovers a deserved 14-0 lead.
Oldham cut that to 14-6 when the Rovers defence made a mess of claiming a high up-and-under from Togagae, Lamb batted the ball back to Ryan and he put Lannan in to score with Dixon adding the conversion.
Early in the second half, Rovers missed a chance to go further ahead when Reynolds’ clever kick to the corner was knocked down for Addy who could not gather the ball in-goal.
But almost immediately they grabbed a third try when O’Connor snaffled a loose ball and backed his pace from the halfway line to outstrip three chasing defenders to the try-line with Reynolds’ conversion making it 20-6.
Wynn sidestepped his way cleverly out of the Rovers’ 20 to launch a break with O’Connor on his outside shoulder, but he then opted to take the ball into contact instead of releasing O’Connor and the chance was gone.
Oldham responded with a try from Whitehead which appeared to see passes go forwards twice in the build-up. Dixon’s conversion made it 20-12 with 23 minutes to go.
But Rovers hit back again when Beckett gathered a Reynolds kick through to score next to the posts making the Reynolds conversion easy for a comfortable 26-12 cushion going into the final quarter.
With Oldham visibly tiring in the closing minutes, Rovers looked to manage the rest of the game, completing their defensive sets with the efficiency and tenacity which had characterised their performance throughout to run out worthy winners.
And they rubbed salt in Oldham’s wounds when they extended their lead to go 28-12 ahead in the final minute with a Reynolds penalty to put the final seal on a victory which sent Rovers into the play-offs
Featherstone Rovers: Aekins, Olpherts, O’Connor, Gale, Wynne, Reynolds, Addy, Springer, Jubb, Beckett, Day, Webb, Wilde.
Interchanges: Jones, Vuniyayawa, Stevens, Williams.
Oldham: Ryan, Dixon, Davies, O’Keefe, Johnson, Smith, Togagae, Ormondroyd, Wildie, Farnworth, Lannon, Foster, Milner.
Interchanges: Pelissier, Chapelhow, Hirst, Whitehead.