CIAN Tyrer became the first Oldham player in 64 years to score a double hat-trick in Sunday’s win over Hunslet, writes Kasey Smith.

The winger equalled the total reached by former Great Britain international Ike Southward against Walney Central in 1960, as well as narrowly missing the club’s record of seven tries scoring in a game – a record that has stood since 1908.

“That’s the most I’ve ever scored,” said the 23-year-old after the game.

“I’ve got my teammates to thank for all of those tries. It was a really good game, and one where you just felt like you were going to score everytime you got the ball.

“We seemed to have joy every time we went forward and that’s down to the quality in the side we’ve got.”

Tyrer’s rise into the first team has been a long time in the making – he was not even set to feature in the starting 17 until a late change over the weekend.

He spent most of pre-season on trial, training for free, before being handed a one-year deal in January.

Since signing the contract, he has found first team opportunities hard to come by with his only appearance coming in the heavy 46-10 loss to York.

And yet there could have been more tries for Tyrer on Sunday, had he opted to run for the line instead of kicking towards the posts for his teammates

Tyrer heaped praise on his centre Jordan Turner, who he was playing alongside in a game which sent Oldham to the top of League One.

“Jordan is a class player who has played at the top level throughout his career,” said Tyrer. “You could see the quality he has in that game, and it made my job a lot easier being outside him.

“He helps me whenever he can, and that just shows the quality player that he is.”