THE trip to Oldham is usually a miserable one for the Warrington Vikings basketball team with 40-point drubbings the norm.

Warrington had to bring three bench players into the starting line and were without their head coach for this clash.

However, the advances in the team's technical play bore fruit as they raced off to an early 10-point lead.

The Vikings came undone in the second quarter. A series of impatient, individual errors allowed Oldham to take an undeserved 32-23 lead.

Order was restored in the fourth quarter, when, down by 17 points, the visitors' defence took control to hold Oldham scoreless for a colossal seven minutes. The stage was set for a gripping finale.

A fast break converted by Gervais was followed by Rowlands' return to form with a three pointer.

Another steal by the Vikings gave them possession with 20 seconds left and needing three points.

Rowlands' desperate effort on the buzzer clipped the rim and dropped wide of the hoop.

Scorers: Fernyhough 15pts, Wray 11pts, Rowland 10pts.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.