It was a glorious sunny afternoon as both sides took to the field to warmup at Boundary Park. The months have soon passed since the opening night of the season when Oldham won at Salford 0-44. Just over a fortnight ago Salford were beaten by bitter rivals Swinton. Oldham were magnificent against London last week so if you put all that together surely they could only be one outcome in this match. The bookmakers certainly agreed with the form with some giving Salford a 40 odd point start on the handicap. I think even the most optimistic Salford supporter had arrived in a fairly cautious mood.

Salford coach Dave Hewitt was forced into a few subtle changes. Prop Danny Lynch has received a two match ban from the Swinton fixture and won’t be available until next season. Shaun Costello and Owain Abel are both out injured along with long term casualty Sam Bowring. Toby Hughes partnered Lewis Pilling in the halves whilst Jack Holmes moved to centre alongside Callum Green. Loan signing Declan Murphy started again at fullback with two other loan signings Oliver Polec and Corey Jay-Sharpe on the bench. For the record Polec played in the corresponding fixture on the opening night of the season on loan from Leigh.

Oldham boss Alan Kilshaw had Josh Drinkwater in the halves alongside Morgan Smith. Josh Simm started on the wing and veteran forward Matty Ashurst started in the back row.

The home side started a little loosely and Salford sprung into action. Joe Hartley hacked a kick through after Oldham lost possession and he won a foot race to the line to score a well deserved try. Kieran Dixon converted, 0-6.

It didn’t take Oldham long to respond and it was a very well worked try on the left edge that caught the eye. Forber raced over with Smith levelling with the conversion.

Salford went short from the kickoff and regained possession. You could see the confidence growing set by set at this early stage of the match. A nice flat pass sent Holmes crashing over to restore the visitors advantage. Dixon again converted well from out wide. 

The Roughyeds became a little rattled by this point failing to complete sets and conceding penalties. This played right into Salford’s hands. Dixon powered over from close range to open up a 6-16 lead and Salford were more than worthy of this.

Oldham conceded another penalty which allowed Salford to nudge their way down field with a kick for touch. Dixon failed to make touch and this handed the possession back to the hosts at a crucial point in the half. Ashurst went over for two tries in five minutes to make Salford pay a heavy price for a simple error. Smith converted both tries to give the Roughyeds an 18-16 halftime lead.

When Oldham forward Bayley Liu powered over ten minutes into the second half it looked like an avalanche of points could be on the way. What we got was the complete opposite. Salford responded with a try from the hardworking Joe Baldwin and the visitors were back within two points at 24-22. 

For the next twenty minutes Salford went set for set with Oldham and you couldn’t really tell which side was third in the table and which side was fifteenth. Salford’s forwards absorbed everything that came at them. When in possession Hewitt’s side were good value and very economical. Hughes and Pilling worked tirelessly on attack but it was the donkey work in the middle from the pack that kept Oldham at bay. 

With ten minutes remaining Hughes forced a drop out and the army of visiting Salford supporters sensed something could happen. A mistake followed to allow the Roughyeds off the hook but with two points still separating the sides it was pulsating stuff. 

Ashurst completed his hat trick in the seventy second minute and this gave Oldham a vital eight point lead. Next up came a very controversial passage of play. Murphy took a high kick comfortably before big forward Liu dropped on him with a cheap shot. Both sides came together with fists flying and bodies all over the place. The referee and his touch judges debated before sending Murphy and Oldham centre Tom Nisbet to the sin bin. A very strange decision when Liu started the whole incident and played a big part in the fracas that followed it. 

Hughes looked to be struggling with injury late on and was replaced by Jay-sharpe. The youngster made an immediate impact with a lovely try selling a real good dummy to race over. Dixon converted to leave Salford trailing by two, 30-28. 

Young halfback Pilling had been in some big collisions but once again really played above his weight. He bravely charged a kick down and the ball went wide to Hartley. Unfortunately for Salford and their fantastic travelling army of supports Hartley was forced into touch. 

Oldham powered over in the final seconds to make the game safe when Brad Day went over. Liu was sin binned on the hooter for more needless antics but the Roughyeds had just done enough.

For Salford it was a huge improvement on recent weeks and going into next week’ final game of 2026 the players will be confident they can finish the season with a win at Batley. Hewitt’s side stood up and were counted in this match and if they can take that spirit in to 2027 Salford can start climbing that table. 

Oldham 36 Salford 28.

Paul Whiteside.

Big thanks to Gareth Lyons for the photos.