League 1: London Skolars off the bottom after beating Oldham

Steven Hughes
London Skolars League 1

London Skolars climbed off the foot of the League 1 table after a 38-16 victory over Oldham at the New River Stadium in the traditional Friday Night Lights game.

It was the Skolars’ first win of the season, and they go above West Wales into ninth place, with Cornwall slipping to the foot of the table.

Meanwhile, Oldham remain seventh after missing the opportunity to close the gap to Hunslet in sixth place.

Forward Luciano Bejanidze gave the Skolars the lead early on, before Dave Hewitt levelled the scores 10 minutes later for Oldham.

The hosts then ran in 22 unanswered points either side of half-time to open up a healthy advantage. Tries from Rob Tuliatu, Jerome Yates and a double from Lameck Juma did the damage.

Oldham pulled one back through Calvin Wellington. This came two minutes after Juma was sent to the sin-bin for punching.

But further tries from Reece Rance, and a second from Yates completed victory for the Skolars. The final word would go to Oldham, with Connor Carr going over.

Elsewhere in League 1

Keighley Cougars took advantage of North Wales not playing this week to go top of the League 1 table on points difference.

They went there courtesy of a win over Midlands Hurricanes at Cougar Park. Nathan Roebuck and Mo Agoro scored two tries, with Charlie Graham also getting on the scoresheet. It was the only game to take place on Sunday.

On Saturday, Swinton Lions opened up the day with a 54-16 win over Cornwall, who are still looking for their first win. A double from Richard Lepori, and other efforts from Lewis Hatton, Billy Brickhill, Jayden Hatton, George Roby, Max Roberts, Mitch Cox, Mike Butt and Jack Hansen completed the win.

Hunslet also scored 50, as they brought West Wales back down to earth after their win against Cornwall last week. Meanwhile, that was Hunslet’s third win in their last four matches and their fourth win overall this season.

In the final game of Saturday, Rochdale won to stay two points behind the top two. They beat Doncaster 46-28 at the Crown Oil Arena thanks in part to a hat-trick from Jy Hitchcox, and two from Ben Calland. Lewis Sheridan, Connor Aspey, Ben Forster and Cobi Green completed the scoring.

READ MORE: Keighley go top, Hunslet & Swinton score 50