Skolars fell to a fourth successive defeat after showing early promise at Oldham. They had taken an early lead when Judd Greenhalgh collected a James Kelly kick to the wing. Oldham levelled the scores also with a kick to the wing for Mo Agoro to score, before taking the lead through a Josh Crowley try ten minutes later.

The scores were even again when Irish student international James Kelly raced to pluck his own high kick from air to score on his debut for Skolars. Both sides were temporarily reduced to 11 players after a fight. Oldham surprisingly won the resultant penalty, which Steven Roper kicked. With two minutes of the first half remaining Agoro swerved past the defence to add his second try and when Dave Cookson scored on the stroke of half-time, Skolars were 22-10 down having to play up the Whitebank slope in the second half.

The home side moved further ahead soon after the restart when Jon Ford intercepted a Kelly pass to run the length of the field. Tely Pelo’s try gave Skolars a glimmer of a comeback, but those hopes were dashed by tries for Nathan Mason and Crowley. In hot conditions, tempers flaired again with Courtney Davies and Danny Whitmore both receiving yellow cards, though the penalty count throughout the game was not particularly high. Skolars conceded another try just before the end when Dale Bloomfield cruised past a tiring defence.

 

OLDHAM

4 Steven Neild

2 Mo Agoro

21 David Cookson

25 Jon Ford

5 Dale Bloomfield

26 Steven Roper

7 Brett Robinson

8 Phil Joy

17 Danny Whitmore

19 Jason Boults

11 Josh Crowley

12 Danny Langtree

9 Sam Gee

 

Subs (all used)

16 Kenny Hughes

19 Michael Ward

20 George Tyson

28 Nathan Mason

 

Tries:  Agoro (12,38), Crowley (21,67), Cookson (40), Ford (48), Mason (57), Bloomfield (79)

Goals: Roper 7/9

 

LONDON SKOLARS

1 Iliess Macani

31 Judd Greenhalgh

3 John Paxton

34 Martin Olima

14 Jamie O’Callaghan

7 Courtney Davies

6 James Kelly

10 David Williams

9 Martyn Smith

20 Patelisio Pelo

12 Mike Worrincy

11 Will Lovell

13 Olly Purslow

 

Subs (all used)

8 Ryan McDonald

27 Anthony Cox

4 Sam Druce

22 Erjon Dollapi

 

Tries: Greenhalgh (4), Kelly (26), Pelo (53)

Goals: Kelly 2/3

 

Penalty count: 8-5

Half-time: 22-10

 

Referee: Dave Sharpe

Attendance: 486

 

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 4-4 , 10-4, 10-10, 12-10, 18-10, 22-10, 28-10, 28-16, 34-16, 40-16, 46-16

 

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