The opening competitive home game of the season can rarely have been viewed with such confidence in recent years, although Oldham have assembled a squad that looks capable of going one step further than last season (when only defeat in the grand final cost them a place alongside us in NL1), another comfortable victory seemed assured. A quick warm-up pint post-work in Eccles was followed by the short tram ride to the Tav to have a few more beers & watch the opening period of Warrington's latest quest for world-domination with their opener against Hull.
The shed was surprisingly packed as the players took the field & a fairly health contingent had made the short trip from Oldham too. From the word go we looked quite sluggish & Oldham were quick to capitalise on any errors we made & this always looked like being more of a contest than the previous week's trip to Rochdale had been. Early nerves were settled however as Mal put Paul White through a gap to go over, Andy Ballard kicked the conversion and we looked forward to another rout. Any such thoughts were quickly dispelled as Mick Nanyn went over for the visitors before adding a fine conversion and we were level again. James Jimenez restored our advantage with a fine goal from Ballard to boot. Gardner made a calamitous error then which let in Craig Littler to level things for the Roughyeds & a period of scrappy play followed before our own Littler squeezed over out wide to take us into the break 18-12 in front.
It was not great to watch, particularly for Wayne who had staked £110 on Salford to beat the 30 point handicap, it certainly wasn't looking promising. In truth, we played a bit better 2nd half & took advantage as Oldham's momentous effort took its inevitable toll on the part-timers' energy levels. Turner & Gardner both crossed while Stuart Littler completed a fine hat-trick. Ballard kicked well throughout & looked assured in his first start at senior level but Jimenez was rightly named as man of the match.
Post game we ventured into the Variety Centre re-opened for fans on Fridays & witnessed a room full of kids & a huge queue at the bar. The wait to be served was made all the more unbearable when news filtered through that the Guinness was off, instead I was stuck with Tuborg! Deano made various scathing comments about people hanging round the players & bothering them so it was a great surprise that as Jimenez walked past our table with his man of the match award, Deano leapt up to shake his hand & try to engage him in mindless conversation. He followed this up by bothering Jewitt (who recognised him from his attempted pitch invasion at Perpignan), Myler & Borgese pestering them to go for a beer with him one night, unbelievable.
Having had enough we left having had a cheery g'day from big Phil Leuluai on the way out. The man was rapidly reaching heroic status, it amused us no end to see that Said Tamghart (the Oldham player notab;e for not wearing socks during a game) was in front of us as we left the club & slipped down the stairs, missed the added friction that a pair of socks can give you there didn't you Said.
De-camping to a very quiet Tavern for last orders to pick over the bones of the night, me & Solly nipped outside only for an oncoming car to race towards us flashing its headlights & beeping it's horn. Only as it went by us did we notice that the driver who was frantically waving goodbye to us was big Phil himself. Top man, I think Solly may want to marry him before too long! Bring on derby day next week.
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