Woolston Rovers 39 Oldham St Annes 28

A FINE comeback victory allowed Woolston Rovers to book their place in the National Conference League Division Three play-offs on Saturday.

They bounced back after a poor first half to beat Oldham St Annes in a thrilling contest at Monks Sports Club thanks in no small part to four tries from substitute Adam Files.

Karlton Bates, twice, and Harry Files also crossed for Rovers, with Glyn Roberts added five goals and a drop goal.

Rovers are fifth in the table but could finish as high as third, depending on how results in Saturday’s final round of games go.

“We needed a result after the disappointment of last week and that is what we got,” head coach Mal Holt said.

“It was an arm wrestle for an hour in terrible conditions but we really stepped on the gas in the final quarter and pulled away.

“Our kicking game in the second half was superb and put us in complete control of territory, which allowed us to then put continuous pressure on them.”

Oliver Bryan scored straight from the kick off to put Oldham in front before Callum Cashin crossed to extend their lead.

Files started his try-scoring haul with his first touch off the bench as he forced his way over on the right, but Rob Charles’ try grabbed some control back for the visitors.

Slick handling saw Bates cross on the left before Files doubled his tally by twisting out of a tackle to score and level matters, but Oldham went into the break ahead thanks to Luke Skilling’s try.

Cameron Davies was sin-binned for punching just after the break, and the visitors made the extra man count as John Deakin crossed.

However, Rovers responded on the hour when Harry Files spotted a gap to cross before brother Adam completed his hat-trick with a fine solo try to put the home side ahead for the first time.

Oldham kicked a penalty to level the game up, but Files wrapped up his remarkable day by weaving through the defence once again to score.

Roberts added a drop-goal to take Rovers into a two-score lead before Bates made absolutely certain of the win with five minutes left.

Holt’s side travel to Waterhead Warriors in their final regular season game on Saturday, kick off 2.30pm.

Woolston: Glyn Roberts; Karlton Bates, Sean Millington, Cameron Davies, Christian Taylor; Theo Holt, Aaron Barber; Jack Sherratt, Ryan Brown, Ryan Hickman, Josh Sudlow, Daniel Markham, Harry Files. Subs: Adam Files, Anthony Clayton, Kyle Brown, Danny Griffiths.