Bulldogs seal pre-season win treble
Batley Bulldogs 54
Oldham 16
By Richard Pickering
THE Bulldogs made it a hat-trick of pre-season victories as they eventually brushed aside determined opponents at Mount Pleasant last Sunday.
Batley raced into a 30-0 interval lead and, after a spirited fightback saw Oldham register three tries, the hosts regained control to ease home.
Gareth Moore and Jonny Campbell led the way with a brace of tries each while Moore was in fine form with the boot, landing all nine conversions for a personal haul of 26 points.
Chris Buttery turned in an excellent display in the pack along with livewire Ash Lindsay, while props Sean Hesketh and James Martin shone as they continually made hard yards.
Moore pulled the strings along with the impressive Paul Handforth, whose neat footwork created both tries for Campbell.
Batley need to iron out the handling errors which gifted Oldham good possession on several occasions, only to be denied by some solid defence, but overall coach Karl Harrison will have been pleased with the nine-try haul.
No doubt he also gave a pat on the back to groundsman Jim Morley, who again ensured the Mount Pleasant pitch looked immaculate as Batley defied the wintry weather for a second home game this year.
With nine players on debut and two on first team debuts, Oldham were always going to be a little rusty, in what was their first pre-season game, but they made the brighter start with former Batley second row Saqib Murtza being held just short.
The Bulldogs responded with a flowing move down the slope which saw Eddie Kilroy just fail to hold the vital pass, while a smart break by Lindsay set up Mark Barlow but his pass was intercepted near the Oldham line.
Batley finally struck after 17 minutes as Byron Smith bulldozed over from close range and Moore converted. A promising Campbell raid ended as he tripped over team-mate Mark Toohey while Handforth then fed Moore only for the scrum-half to be held on the line by Oldham full-back Paul O’Connor.
Handforth and Martin were also denied by last-ditch defence before Barlow dived over at the right corner. Moore’s touchline goal saw Batley 12-0 up after 25 minutes and it was the first of four tries in a 10-minute spell as they took a stranglehold on the game.
A jinking Handforth run broke the visitors’ ranks to give Campbell a clear 30-yard run to the line while soon after a neat pass from Buttery fed Danny Maun on the left and he put Moore away on an angled run to the posts.
Oldham rumbled back up the slope but after neat handling winger Michael Ward was bundled into touch at the right corner by Lee Greenwood, before Batley responded with a Handforth high kick, which was spilled, and Dave Tootill collected the loose ball to scamper over near the posts.
Two minutes after the break Kris Lythe and John Gallagher drove the Bulldogs deep before Handforth fed Tommy Gallagher, who spun out of a tackle and crashed into the right post as he touched down.
Moore’s sixth conversion put Batley 36-0 ahead but from there Oldham rallied well with three tries in 13 minutes.
Moore lost possession 30 yards out and neat handling ended with Mick Fogerty driving over to touch down. Strong drives by the pack then set up scrum-half Matty Ashe whose disguised chip put O’Connor over for a deserved try.
Ashe added the goal and he was on target again to make it 36-16 after 59 minutes as he arrowed a crossfield kick to the left corner and Fogerty rose highest to grab the ball and touch down.
Batley regrouped in the final quarter to regain the initiative and in the 65th minute another Handforth break created space for the supporting Campbell to dart over unopposed for a try which Moore converted.
Three minutes later Lythe broke on halfway and exchanged passes with Handforth before finding Buttery who sent Moore clear to round off a fine move with his second try. The scrum-half’s conversion put Batley 48-16 ahead.
Tootill and Martin again went close before Batley’s ninth try came a minute from time when, after Mark Cunningham was hauled down, Lindsay spun out a pass for Greenwood to scamper over at the right corner.
Another fine touchline conversion maintained Moore’s 100 per cent record as Batley signed off their successful pre-season with an encouraging third success.
Batley Bulldogs: Campbell; Greenwood, Barlow (Cunningham 52mins), Maun, Kilroy; Handforth, Moore; Smith (Martin 17mins, Simpson 40mins), Lythe, Hesketh (Tootill 17mins, T Gallagher 40mins), Potter (Toohey 11mins), Buttery, Lindsay (J Gallagher 28mins).
Oldham: O'Connor; Onyango, Heaton, Brand, Ward; Bentley, Ashe; Ellison, M Roden, Kerr, Watkins, Murtza, Clarke. Subs: Boults, Graves, Sykes, Fogerty, Brocklehurst, Kinney, Gillam.
Referee: Matthew Kidd (Castleford).
Attendance: 566.
n There was a minute’s silence before kick-off in memory of Bryan Cooney.
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Weather for Batley
Wednesday 08 February 2012
Today
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