Oldham 28 Dewsbury Rams 30: Jowitt left frustrated as Dewsbury switch off to let Oldham in

In the end the Championship side scraped home to pick up their first points in Pool A against opponents from a lower division, but coach Warren Jowitt will be more concerned about the 28 points they conceded than the 30 they scored.

They looked to be strolling to victory when leading 30-4 early in the second half, but they had no answer to Oldham’s attacking prowess when the home side got a roll on down the slope.

A frustrated Jowitt was less than pleased with the manner in which Oldham turned the game on its head in the last 20 minutes.

“We fell in love with ourselves,” he said. “After totally dominating the first half. We played some good football in the first 40, but what happened after that was not acceptable.

“Oldham hit back with a gritty performance, but with due respect to them it was a case of what we didn’t do rather than what they did.”

The Rams raced into the lead with tries by Ayden Faal, Ben Jones, Ed Barber, Dwayne Barker, Derrell Olpherts and Matty Nicholson and three conversions by Scott Spavin.

They led 20-4 at half-time and then stretched their lead to 26 points with tries by Nicholson and Olpherts, the latter a stunning length-of-the-field effort. After that, though, they relaxed.

John Gillam, who had scored their only try in the first half, completed his hat-trick, while Neil Roden and John Clough also scored to set up a grandstand finish in which the Rams were hanging on.

Jamie Dallimore kicked superbly off the left-hand touchline to convert all four second-tries and in the end the Rams scraped home by the skin of their teeth.

Oldham: Greenwood; Robinson, Cookson, Fogarty, Gillam; Roden, Dallimore; Boults, Clough, Gilchrist, Clarke, Ward, Thompson. Substitutes: Noone, Whitmore, Ellison, Johnson.

Dewsbury Rams: Olpherts; Wainwright, Smith, Faal, Buchanan; Barber, Spavin; Jones, Cook, Crossley, Barker, Esders, Tonks. Substitutes: Blake, Samuels, Davies, Nicholson.

Referee: J Bloem (RFL).