London Broncos suffered a first defeat of the season at Boundary Park, falling 34-24 to Oldham after a fiercely contested encounter in which the sides went into the break level.
It was Oldham who made the stronger start, applying pressure from the opening whistle and finding the breakthrough inside the opening five minutes through Drinkwater. Smith added the conversion to give the hosts an early 6-0 advantage.
Broncos responded well to the early setback, beginning to gain territory and forcing Oldham back into their own half. That pressure paid off in the 11th minute when Lewis Bienek powered over for our opening try of the afternoon. Dean Hawkins converted to bring the scores level at 6-6.
Momentum began to shift in our favour and Broncos soon struck again. Neil Tchamambe found his way over the line for London's second, with Hawkins once again converting to put us 12-6 ahead.
Oldham responded in the 20th minute through Forber, who crossed on the edge before Smith converted to restore parity at 12-12.
The game continued to swing between the two sides, with neither able to take full control. Broncos continued to look dangerous with the ball and eventually regained the lead before the interval when Elliot Wallis crossed for our third try of the afternoon. Hawkins maintained his perfect record from the tee to put us back in front.
Oldham, however, ensured there would be nothing between the sides at the break. O'Keefe crossed on the stroke of half-time, with the conversion attempt striking the post to leave the contest finely poised at 18-18 after 40 minutes.
The hosts came out quickly after the restart. Broncos initially denied Oldham when Walker took possession over the dead-ball line to prevent a try, but the pressure continued.
A penalty gave Oldham another opportunity and Chapelhow burst through the London defence, only for Luke Smith to produce an important tackle just short of the line. The hosts kept the move alive and Forber eventually found his way over for his second try of the afternoon. The conversion was unsuccessful, but Oldham had moved back ahead at 22-18.
Oldham then began to take control of the contest, extending their advantage to 28-18 as we struggled to find a way out of our own half. Broncos looked to freshen things up with Reagan Campbell-Gillard and Marcus Stock reintroduced but the pressure continued.
A knock-on from Walker handed possession back to the hosts and they capitalised through Bibby, with Smith converting to stretch the advantage to 34-18.
Broncos refused to let the game get away without a fight and found a much-needed response through Hursey-Hord, who crossed for our fourth try before Hawkins added the conversion to reduce the deficit to 34-24.
Despite pushing for a way back into the contest during the closing stages, there was to be no further breakthrough and the final whistle brought our unbeaten start to the season to an end.
It wasn't our day at Boundary Park, with Oldham's resilience and second-half performance proving the difference in a 34-24 defeat. Credit to the opposition, who provided our toughest test of the season so far and were the better side on the day.
Attention now turns to responding in the next fixture and building on what has been an impressive start to the campaign.
London Broncos: 22 Alex Walker, 26 Neil Tchamambe, 4 Alex Max, 3 Robert Mathias, 2 Elliot Wallis, 23 Gairo Voro, 7 Dean Hawkins, 8 Reagan Campbell-Gillard, 13 Siliva Havili, 24 Lewis Bienek, 11 Luke Smith, 19 Ben Hurley-Hord, 10 Emarly Bitungane
Replacements: 14 Finley Glare, 17 Marcus Stock, 16 Epel Kapinias, 6 Connor O’Beirne
18th man: 12 Jack Croft
Tries: Bienek (10), Tchamambe (14), Wallis (37), Hursey-Hord (74)
Goals: Hawkins 4/4
Oldham RLFC: 1 Jack Walker, 21 Tom Nisbet, 3 Ben O’Keefe, 5 Jake Bibby, 29 Luke Forber, 6 Morgan Smith, 23 Josh Drinkwater, 34 Lazarus Vaalepu, Matty Wildie, 10n Owen Farnworth, 11 Matty Ashurst, 26 Brad Day, 13 Adam Milner
Replacements: 7 Tom Forber, 15 Ted Chapelhow, 12 Ryan Lannon, 4 Ben Davies
18th Man: Bayley Liu
Tries: Drinkwater (3), Forber (19, 44), O’Keefe (40), Forber (49), Bibby (68)
Goals: Smith 4/6
