OLDHAM kept hot on the heels of unbeaten Dewsbury Rams in Championship 1 with this derby triumph, but they didn't have it all their own way.

Paul Kidd's side started off well enough and were 14-2 ahead by the 18th minute thanks to two tries from Gary Hulse and one from Carl Sneyd, who also kicked a goal.

The Roughyeds finally hit back with tries from Dave Allen and Andy Ballard, who also kicked three goals, his first a penalty.

Sneyd popped over another penalty for Swinton, and Wayne English followed it with a try on 29 minutes.

Before half-time, Allen completed his hat-trick and Ballard kicked two goals to put Oldham into the lead for the first time.

All Swinton's first half promise came to nothing, however, as Oldham turned up the heat after the break.

Ballard added two more tries to complete his hat-trick and took his goal tally to six.

Phil Joseph and Marcus Hilare completed the try scorers.

Swinton's lone reply came from a Darren Bamford try.

Just how tough a job it will be for Oldham to catch Dewsbury was shown by the Rams' 76-14 triumph at Workington.

HORNETS' hopes of getting away from the bottom of Championship 1 were shattered in the first 20 minutes when the Hawks ran up a 28-0 lead.

Tries from Martin Ainscough and Tommy Gallagher, plus two goals by Chris Giles, before the interval, gave Rochdale a bit of hope.

But it was too big a hill to climb and Hawks pushed on to an 56-30 easy win with a further five tries.

To their credit, Hornets never gave up trying and they managed tries from Craig Johnson, Mick Fogerty and Craig Mayberry.

Liam McGovern, who took over the goalkicking, added three to the total.

NEW signing Kevin Penny grabbed the try which finally put the Vikings on the way to a 46-30 victory after a poor first half.

The Vikings trailed 24-6 at one point. However, tries from Lee Doran and Jim Gannon kept the home side in touch at the break and Widnes took a stranglehold on the game as Anthony Thackeray, Gavin Dodd and Paddy Flynn all steamed over to level it at 30-30. After Penny's try, Doran and Steve Bannister added further touchdowns.

Tim Hartley landed five goals and Gavin Dodd two.

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