Oldham St Annes 28 Crosfields 28

CONTROVERSY reigned at the end of an entertaining National Conference League Division Three encounter.

The referee had Oldham St Annes edging a thrilling contest by two points when in fact the scores were locked at 28-28 after a late penalty drew the home side level with Crosfields.

Two officials confirmed the correct scoreline, but both sides can feel aggrieved after opportunities for drop-goal attempts were spurned in favour of going all out for a decisive try.

Crosfields, buoyed by pre-season optimism from large numbers at training and two decent showings in trial games, went into the clash confident of an upset against a side that was relegated at the end of last season.

A confident opening set of six backed this up but it was the hosts who opened the scoring with a penalty and conversion to a try from a 90-metre kick return.

That lead was extended to 14-0 with a second home try before Crosfields finally managed to reward the dominance in all aspects other than on the score-sheet.

After earning repeat sets, a scrum led to a planned play that paved the way for Kieron Thomas to cross in the corner.

Tony Benson’s side registered again when a long cut-out pass from the impressive Billy Sheen saw Matty Barber crash over between the sticks.

When the restart ricocheted off Hayden James straight into the arms of an Oldham chaser the momentum was back with the home side, with a third try being added to by a length-of-the-field interception effort that left Soap 26-10 behind at half time.

Crosfields’ positive play and shape needed some more composure and brains, and the half-time advice was taken on board.

Enterprising play at the start of the second half saw Ash Cornelia dance through a couple of holes to release Sheen to open his account for the season.

Five minutes later a clever Jack Reid reverse chip was pounced upon by Cornelia to put Crosfields within touching distance.

Then man-of-the-match Hayden James, continuing where he left off last season with a typical burst from dummy half, found the supporting Matt Mahoney to put the hosts on the back foot.

From the resulting quick play-the-ball Reid sent Thomas over in the corner for his second score.

The try was goaled to put Soap in front for the first time, until the late drama.

A penalty by Oldham concluded the draw, but the visitors returned feeling proud of their commitment and desire to get back into a game that in previous seasons would have drifted away from them.