Naylor: We seemed to panic

Oldham head coach Scott Naylor was satisfied with his team’s committment in their defeat to London but believes they seemed to panic when attacking on the Bronco’s line.

The Roughyeds were 4-0 behind at half-time and then London scored three tries to win 22-0.

“I’m disappointed by the result, obviously, but there were a lot of positives to come out of our performance even though we are on a learning curve and we need to learn quickly,” Naylor said.

“Our work rate and commitment were both first class, but we have a lot to work on and a lot to talk about. We always knew that would be the case no matter what happened in the game.

“We seemed to panic a bit when we were pressing on their line. We needed to be steadier and calmer in order to get a try which would have given us a lift.

“It wasn’t to be. London defended exceptionally well.

“Last year, in League One, we would have come away with points from so much pressure on our opponents’ line and that’s the challenge for us this year – to turn pressure into points against Championship defences when we earn back-to-back sets on their line.”

Broncos boss Andrew Henderson conceded that Oldham put his side under a lot of first-half pressure, but heaped plaudits on the visitors’ enthusiasm to work hard in defence and to keep the Championship new boys scoreless.

“Defensively, the boys turned up to do a job and I’m delighted by the way they did it,” Henderson said.

“We repelled everything Oldham threw at us in the first half and then got well on top the longer the game went on, as we always felt we would.”