Oldham 12 Doncaster RLFC 24: Dons make progress in 1895 Cup

Doncaster RLFC remain on the Wembley trail after beating Oldham 24-12 in their AB Sundecks 1895 Cup second round tie at the Vestacare Stadium.
Sam DohertySam Doherty
Sam Doherty

Two quickly-taken tries midway through the second half put the Dons in the driving seat at 18-6 after the two sides had gone in level at 6-6.

Matty Chrimes, Watson Boas, Callum Ogden and Sam Doherty were on the trysheet as Richard Horne’s men secured a morale-boosting victory.

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The Dons were without three of the side which claimed their first win in four league games last time out against lowly West Wales, including leading try-scorer Connor Bower.

But they were boosted by availability of promising Hull FC centre Cameron Scott for the first time this season.

The Dons looked to have scored an early try but full-back Jordan Howden’s touchdown was disallowed for offside.

That was the nearest either side came to breaking the deadlock in the first quarter – the Dons’ cause not being helped by handling errors.

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The visitors finally opened the scoring on 27 minutes, winger Chrimes touching down from a high kick to the corner by full-back Jordan Howden.

Scrum-half Matty Beharrell added the extras to give his side a 6-0 lead.

Oldham drew level shortly before the interval when half-back Adam Brook celebrated his return to the side following a broken wrist when squeezing through a narrow gap to claim a try converted by Paul Crook.

The Dons were the first to threaten after the break with on-loan Papua New Guinea half-back Boas being held up over the line after taking on the Oldham defence.

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But there was no stopping the Featherstone man eleven minutes later when he latched on to a loose ball close to his own line and left the cover for dead. Beharrell tagged on the conversion from under the posts.

No sooner had the cheers from the Doncaster supporters died down than the visitors were celebrating a third converted try by hooker Ogden -  which saw them take a 12-point lead into the final quarter - following good work by Chrimes and Beharrell in the build-up.

Any outside hopes that Oldham, seeking a fifth successive league and cup win, entertained of a salvaging a result were effectively dashed when Jordie Hedges sent winger Doherty over in the corner from a long pass and Beharrell again added the extras.

The Dons finished a game they had started as underdogs with only 11 men. Skipper Ryan Boyle was sin-binned on 74 minutes after the Dons had been handed a team warning. Fellow forward Levy Nzounga was also shown a yellow card in the closing stages after Oldham had grabbed a second try.