Gary Thornton reflects on tough defeat at Oldham

Rochdale Hornets head coach Gary Thornton was left to count the cost of defeat after seeing his side well beaten by Betfred League 1 promotion favourites Oldham on Sunday.

The Hornets endured a tough afternoon against their local rivals, falling to a 54-6 defeat at Boundary Park.

Having fallen behind early on, the Hornets rallied well and found themselves back on level terms as Myles Harrop crashed through the line after a fine set-up pass from half-back Lewis Else.

However, Else left the field with an elbow injury not long after, leaving the debuting Lewis Hollidge as the Hornets’ only recognised half-back for over an hour. 

Oldham, who many have tipped to finish top of the division in 2024, kicked on in the second half and scored 34 unanswered points, running in a total of 10 tries over the 80 minutes as they maintained their unbeaten start in the league.

Speaking post-match, head coach Thornton was quick to rue the wider impact of their Round 3 defeat on the road.

"I'm massively disappointed with the scoreline, but more concerned with the injury list growing,” he said.

"We lost Lewis Else today with an elbow injury. I don't know what the extent of that is, but it doesn't look good. 

"It was always going to be tough coming here, but now the injury list gets longer and longer. We're without our complete spine, so hopefully we can get through this next period while we've got the injuries.”

Reflecting on the manner of his side’s performance, Thornton added: "Oldham are a good team. In the first half I thought we dug in and had a great response to going six points behind. 

"They're a tough team to break down, and with the budget and the money they've spent, you'd expect that. 

"I can't fault our effort areas. I thought we worked our socks off today, but we're having no luck with injuries and no luck with some of the calls. 

"Ultimately against a team like this, you're never going to win the game when you give close to 16 penalties away. We gave ourselves an uphill task right from the word go."