Oldham Bears 30 Saints 34 WITH World Club Challenge matters on the back burner, Saints duly got back on Super League track with this welcome win on Sunday afternoon - but at what a price! For, in earning only their second victory since the Wembley triumph in May an injury-hit Saints' side lacking skipper Bobbie Goulding, Tommy Martyn, Apollo Perelini, Steve Prescott and Andy Northey were dealt further hammer blows. These came via the dismissal of Vila Matautia in the13th minute and the placing on report of Derek McVey and Sean Long, while Dean Busby suffered a suspected broken leg after being on the field just 60 seconds.

The Bears were also subjected to a mauling from referee David Campbell in that Gary Lord was shown the red card and John Clarke the yellow one, while Martin Crompton also found himself on report. All this suggests Sunday's clash might be dubbed 'the battle of Boundary Park' with the 4,575 fans on tenterhooks, as indeed they were. But it was only the see-saw nature of the scoring, and certainly not intensity, which kept them that way.

This was a game in which play rarely reached high standards, with both teams regularly guilty of basic errors - in particular poor handling - and it appeared that Oldham and Saints were still feeling the after-effects of Club Challenge exertions. However, this is not to say that Saints' often erratic performance was bereft of individual heroics, for there was nothing better than the two-try display of Keiron Cunningham while, with the returning Joey Hayes waiting in the wings, Danny Arnold scored a deserved hat-trick. The reappearance of Hayes following knee surgery was another cause for joy for the men from Knowsley Road, who were six points up in as many minutes when, after Afi Leuila lost the ball, Alan Hunte and Karle Hammond opened the way for Arnold to cross for Long to land the touchline conversion.

Matautia and Clarke were then sent on their way for fighting, just before Hunte and Hammond linked with Cunningham to put Arnold away, and the winger broke the tackle of Paul Atcheson to score his second try, but Long was off-target with the kick. Despite being down to 12 men Saints looked to be in the driving seat in leading 10-0 with 20 minutes gone, but they were rocked back on their heels when the hungry Bears grabbed the lead with tries by Fawcett and Atcheson, with Luke Goodwin tacking on the goals.

The visitors regained the initiative when McVey miraculously got the ball away in the tackle for Cunningham to touch down for Long to convert, only for Oldham to grab an 18-16 half-time lead when Francis Maloney sent Fawcett again for another six-pointer.Tit-for-tat scoring remained the pattern on the restart as Hunte and McVey carved out a third try for Arnold, with the Saints' Australian forward then 'booked' for an apparently legal challenge on the unscathed Maloney. A blockbusting try by substitute Ian Pickavance and two further goals from Long saw Saints leading 28-18 as substitute Lord departed after just three minutes for an alleged offence on Paul Newlove.

But Oldham hit back when Clarke scored a fine solo try and Goodwin converted, so Saints were clinging to a tenuous 28-24 advantage until the 75th minute when Chris Joynt put Cunningham over for what seemed to be the clincher. However, the barnstorming Bears had the final say in injury time when Maloney's break enabled Fawcett to match Arnold's touchdown treble.

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