A YOUTHFUL Saints side, that was bolstered by the inclusion of senior first teamers Josh Perry, Ade Gardner and Chris Flannery, slipped to defeat at this pre-season friendly played in the Oldham mud.

The visitors trailed from early on and though they battled valiantly there was little room for manoeuvre on a pitch that cut up badly and against a Roughyeds defence that was impressive in its tenacity.

However, the watching Royce Simmons will have gleaned benefits from the physical encounter, with frontrower Perry, Flannery and Gardner getting through a steady shift of work as they attempt to build their match fitness after injuries last season and full back Nathan Ashe displaying some classy touches in attack that suggest he may be knocking on the door of the first team.

After heavy rain and sleet earlier in the evening, it certainly was not a night for finesse and it was no surprise that the early tries came on the back of errors.

Firstly, Saints made a mess of clearing kick deep in their own half and, as the ball went to ground, the home side were the first to react, hacking on the ball for Matthew Fogarty to follow up and touch down beneath the posts for a try Jamie Dallimore converted.

Another dropped ball gave the home side the opportunity to attack from a scrum ten yards from the Saints tryline and the visitors youthful backline could not stop Miles Greenwood’s arcing run to the tryline.

Trailing 10-0, Saints had mustered little in terms of attack but when they managed to spread the ball through hands to Gardner on the right flank it was worked back inside to Ashe held off several defenders to cross the line for a score that centre Mark Percival converted.

Boosted by the try they attempted to play more expansively but another attempt to spread play to the right saw the ball hit the deck and Oldham’s John Gillam scooped it up superbly before racing 50 metres unopposed to the line.

Dallimore’s conversion made it 16-6 at half time but the gap was narrowed following a try from centre Josh Jones and a fine conversion from wide out by Percival.

Saints appeared to have seized the upper hand – with their opponents struggling to make ground from their own half – but Oldham, impressive for their mobility and enthusiasm, dug in and after a rare second half foray into opposition territory they added to their advantage.

Again it was on the back of a Saints error. A grubber to the corner could not be mopped up cleanly in the slutch and the impressive Gillam nipped in to score his second, with Dallimore slotting over the goal from wide out.

However, Ashe injected belief for the visitors by cutting through down the middle and sending Percival dashing in from 30 metres for a try he also converted.

But hopes of a comeback were killed off when backrower John Clough drove his way through several defenders to delight the Oldham supporters.

Oldham: Greenwood; Tom Rigby, Cookson, Fogarty, Gillam, Reid, Dallimore; Boults, Clough, Gilchrist, Clarke, Smith, Bentley. Interchange: Langtree, Neil Rigby, Johnson, Martin Roden, Whitmore, Murphy, Thompson.

Saints: Ashe; Gardner, Percival, Josh Jones, Bamford; Swift, Yates; Perry, Speakman; Forster, Hale, Flannery, Greenwood. Interchange: Baines, Danny Jones, Hand, Lee, Wilde, Bate.