Moor’s game at Oldham last Saturday was their first away league game to be played locally this season and with the opposition recently winning their first games in the league, there was the prospect that a good old ‘derby’ match would ensue. In the event, the game was a bit of a scrappy affair, but Moor did have the edge throughout.

From the start, the Green Lane side took the initiative and, as they have so often done this season, rapidly built up a lead. Moor’s first points came after 9 minutes when full-back Martin Snidal fielded his own kick ahead, fed skipper James McIntosh, who in turn fed winger Ivan Smetana and when the latter was stopped, Snidal was up in support to score a try, converted by fly-half Martin Shelley. Moor extended their lead 3 minutes later when from a ruck on the home side’s 22-metre line, a long pass out found Snidal joining the three-quarter line at pace and he fed Smetana to score an unconverted try. A few minutes later, Oldham were again under pressure and following a line-out on their 5-metre line, their fly-half dropped the ball and scrum-half Felipe Silva pounced to score another unconverted try. Instead of pressing home their advantage, Moor then allowed the home side back into the game and some poor tackling allowed the Oldham full-back through their defence where he fed his centre to score a converted try. They then narrowed the lead further when a quickly taken tap kick from their own 22 resulted in a kick up field and from a resulting scrum, their centre again crossed for another converted try. Shelley added a penalty before the interval to make the half-time score 20-14 to Moor, a lead that was far narrower than the first 15 minutes had suggested.

Although Moor were in control of the game from the re-start, they only had another Shelley penalty to show for their efforts for the first 25 minutes. Following a long period of pressure on the opposition line, the next try came from a chip over the advancing defence by centre Phil Thomas and he then beat the cover to touch down, the try being converted by Shelley. 10 minutes later, the ball was quickly passed along the three-quarters from a ruck and winger Nick Hawke then kicked ahead and again beat the cover to score an unconverted try. With 3 minutes of injury time played and the game over as a contest, Oldham had the consolation of scoring another try, the final whistle being blown after the successful conversion and Moor ran out comfortable winners 35-21.

This was another instance where Moor should have closed the game down after establishing a clear lead, but as has happened so often this season they seem to have difficulty in doing so. They will certainly need to tighten up on their defence for next week’s third round EDF Energy Senior Vase game at Green Lane against Wigton, k.o. 2:00 pm.