Burnley 21 Oldham 34

BURNLEY went down to champions-elect Oldham on Saturday but made them work for their victory.

The visitors have only lost once all season and were quickly into their stride scoring a well worked early try.

The home support feared a cricket score but Burnley produced one of their better performances this season as refused to lie down, contesting on an equal footing for much of the match.

Luca Angelone drove over for a try converted by Gus Ferguson to give Burnley a shock lead.

Oldham showed their class with two tries to regain the lead and added another before the half for a 20-7 lead. Simon Finnan found a gap to narrow Oldham’s lead.

Two more visitors’ tries killed off any hopes of an upset before James Henderson drove over to give the score a more balanced feel.

Defeats are always hard to take but Burnley will be focusing more on their improved performance which was levels above what they have been producing.

And they will be hoping that will be the case at North Manchester next week which will go along way to rescuing what has been a poor season so far.