REPORT | Oldham RLFC 18 Dons 10

The Dons fell to defeat against Oldham RLFC as they lost out by eight points underneath the lights of Boundary Park in the Betfred Championship.

Richard Horne's men struggled to make an impression on the Roughyeds line in the first half and trailed by 14 points at the break, but they did go close through both Muizz Mustapha and Mitieli Vulikijapani.

Jacob Jones and Alex Sutcliffe troubled the scoreboard operator in the second 40, but it wasn't to be enough to come from behind on the night as the Dons were beaten on the road.
Horne made three changes to the side that lost out late on against league leaders London Broncos on home soil 12 days earlier, with Brad Hey, Sutcliffe and Watson Boas all handed spots inside the starting XIII.
Both teams cancelled each other out during the first ten minutes of the match, but the hosts opened the scoring soon after.
On 12 minutes, after winning a penalty at the other end of the pitch, Oldham shifted play all the way to the left wing, and Luke Forber dived in at the corner to break the deadlock.
That gave the home side life, and three minutes later they doubled their lead to leave a scoreline of 8-0. A break through the middle saw a number of men rushing towards Tom Holmes, and Oldham picked the right one, going left and leaving Jake Bibbey to go over.
The game was temporarily suspended with 17 minutes on the clock as a drone flew over the stadium.
The Dons had to see off a number of repeat sets, scrums and penalties for the next ten minutes after the game had restarted, as their goalline defence stood impeccably strong.
Horne's side went close to marking the start of a comeback after 32 minutes after working their way through the centre and attempting to ground right underneath the posts through Mustapha, but the number 17 was judged to have knocked on.
And Oldham made the visitors pay for that missed opportunity. Josh Drinkwater broke through the middle and scored beneath the sticks. Riley Dean added the extras.
Vulikijapani went extremely close to marking the scoresheet for the Dons just before the half time hooter after getting on to the end of a huge pass out to the right wing, but he was pushed into touch as he went to dive for the corner.
The interval arrived with a 14-0 scoreline in the hosts' favour.
The visitors came out after the break with intent and went over seven minutes after the restart. Jacob Jones powered onto a ball out left and smashed his way into the goal area.
The Dons then enjoyed a sustained spell of attacking pressure, but a mistake in the centre turned the ball back over and into Oldham hands.
Edene Gebbie looked to have slid in to the right for a visiting try on 57 minutes, but Vulikijapani had passed forward in the build-up.
Oldham again made Horne's men pay for their missed opportunity five minutes later, though. Jack Walker held off his way on the right to roll over and make the line. 18-4.
The Dons were determined to not let the game get away from them and were in after 67 minutes. Sutcliffe pounced on a Roughyeds error and ran around the back to score. Aston added the extras to reduce the deficit to eight points heading into the closing stages.
But that's how it ended on the night. Horne's men got into plenty of promising positions throughout the final 13 minutes of the match, but errors snuck in and the football just wouldn't stick as it ended in defeat for the Dons on the road.
Dons: Holmes, Vulikijapani, Hey, Sutcliffe, Gebbie, Boas, Aston, Gwaze, C. Jones, Matagi, J. Jones, Johnson, Mustapha. Interchanges: Smeaton, McConnell, Pauli, Hepi.