AFTER WATERHEAD Warriors ended a wait of almost 12 months for a victory in National Conference League – they beat Gateshead Storm 28-4 – there is frustration at Peach Road.
Warriors, whose win ended a dismal sequence of 19 straight defeats in divisions two and three as they finally got an enormous monkey off their backs, will have to wait five weeks after that game before playing again.
There was a break for the Magic Weekend and a couple of blank fixtures while the game against Crosfields this weekend has been postponed at their opponent’s request.
This will mean Warriors won’t have played from May 16 to June 20 when they are at home to Drightlington,
Chairman Mick Slicker snr said: “It is far from ideal having such a long break – it is going to be like pre-season all over again when we restart.
“It is a problem as players lose interest. Ideally we would have liked to have played the next week after beating Gateshead.”
Mr Slicker has noticed an improvement as the week before the Gateshead win, they gave high-flying Dewsbury Moor Maroons an examination before losing 38-22.
“We knew when we took over the open-age team needed fixing. We are getting better and having more bodies at training. It is work in progress, but we are improving,” he explained.
The victory against Gateshead was their first win since May 24, 2014 when they defeated Leigh East 18-16.
There was a hat trick of tries for Terry Fitzgerald and one touchdown apiece for Darren Nixon and Luke De Feu while Kyle Mayall kicked four goals.
It was a win which lifted them off bottom spot as they moved ahead of Gateshead, and they will be hoping it sparks an improvement in fortunes for the remainder of the season.
Meanwhile, Saddleworth Rangers are rooted to the bottom of the National Conference League, division one, as they continue their quest for their first points of the season.
May proved to be a disappointing month, beginning with a 36-6 defeat away at Milford Marlins, who are only two places above Rangers.
This was followed by a narrow 21-23 loss when Wigan St Judes visited Shaw Hall Bank Road and snatched the points with a late field goal and penalty.
And the drought continued against second-placed Kells as Rangers slipped from 26-6 up at the interval to an eventual 36-23 defeat.
They will be hoping for a better outcome when they welcome Elland, who are tenth in the league, to Greenfield on Saturday, June 13, kick off at 2.30pm.
However, there has been more success for Rangers’ youth teams, who received a glittering trophy for recording the most wins last seasons out of all the youth teams in Oldham.
Victories were totaled up across the under 12s through to under 15s to decide the winners of the Rugby Oldham Junior Club Challenge title.
The trophy was presented to Rangers U15s captain Fin Gallagher by Oldham Amateur Rugby League Chairman Geoff Cooke at a special presentation.
And elsewhere, the Under 14s, coached by Danny England, have stormed their way into the final of the North West Counties Development Cup with a convincing 56-14 win over Blackbrook Blues.
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