The rugby match of oldham vs london skolars live streams tonight 6th August 09

OLDHAM vs LONDON SKOLARS

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FOR WATCHING LIVE STREAM LIVE LINK ACTIVE LIVE LINK LIVE STREAM VIDEO ONLINE VIDEO STREAM NEIL Roden can walk tall in the knowledge that he is the Oldham club's all-time second highest try-scoring half-back. Of all those who have worn Oldham's No 6 and No 7 shirts since statistics were first recorded, only the legendary Frank Pitchford in the 1950s scored more tries in his career than rock-steady Roden's 88 . . . or is it 90? My personal records show Neil on 93, but they include two Law Cup tries and another in a pre-season warm-up game at Whitehaven in 2004 and for purposes of "official" records those do not count. That takes him down to 90 -- two more than the current total allocated to our long-serving stand-off half by Michael Turner, trusted historian of the Oldham club and the Heritage Trust's record keeper. Either way, only Leigh-born Pitchford's 105 touchdowns better Roden's total, and Frank needed 305 appearances to become one of only 14 players to top the century, whereas Neil is hot on his heels in only 218 outings. Now in his eighth season with the Roughyeds --- he was away from the club in 2005 and 2006 --- Roden has (my records) played in 218 games out of a possible 248 and has scored 93 tries and 20 drop goals for a total of 392 points. However, for purposes of comparison, and as all other players' records in this study are kindly provided by the Heritage Trust, we will stick with Michael's 88 to show the full merit of Roden's achievement when placed against the try-scoring records of other leading Oldham half-backs across the years. Nobody ran 'em in quite like stand-off Wilf Briggs, who rattled up an astonishing 44 tries in only 73 games in the late '60s and early '70s, but he didn't stick around long enough to become a member of the elite. Pitchford led the way, but second comes Roden -- still going strong --- and he has already surpassed the totals of several half-back stars of yesteryear, including Vinny Nestor, Alan Kellett, Ray Ashton and, way back, Alex Givvons. Indeed, only 16 Oldham players in total, going back to the early 1900s, have scored more tries for the club than Roden and with the exception of Pitchford every one of those was either a winger or a centre. Top of the pile was the incomparable Alan Davies with a magnificent 174, but to see Roden in 17th place and bearing down on players like John Etty (90) and Des Foy (96) puts into real perspective Neil's contribution to the Roughyeds cause over the past few years. He was the club's leading try scorer in 2002 with 20 and he wasn't far off claiming top spot again in 2004 when he chalked up 18. These days, at the age of 29, he is just as happy making tries for others as he is going over himself. But next time he crosses the whitewash raise a special cheer for the man who, over the years, has made try-scoring look easy. Well done, Neil Roden! TOP-SCORING HALF-BACKS App Tries Frank Pitchford 305 105 Neil Roden 218 88 Vinny Nestor 232 86 Alan Kellett 206 76 Ray Ashton 212 72 Alex Givvons 241 54 . . . AND THE REST Alan Davies 174 Sid Rix 155 Mike Elliott 153 Johnny Noon 126 Dick Cracknell 119 Sam Williams 119 Reg Farrar 114 Phil Larder 111 George Tyson 111 Joe Corsi 107 Terry O'Grady 105 Frank Pitchford 105 Evan Davies 102 George Smith 100 Des Foy 96 John Etty 90 Neil Roden 88