Oldham excited by Bash derby

Oldham coach Scott Naylor has welcomed the RFL decision to pair Oldham with neighbours Rochdale Hornets in next season’s Summer Bash event at Blackpool.

“They’re our arch-rivals, so who better?,” the Roughyeds boss, said.

Oldham have strengthened with the addition of Scott Leatherbarrow, Ben Davies, Nathan Chappell and David Hewitt and recruitment is unlikely to stop there.

Naylor said: “The squad is coming along nicely and we hope to be stronger still by the time next season gets underway.

“By the time we get to the end of next season’s play-offs we could have played Rochdale five or six times and they will all be huge games for both clubs and for both sets of fans.

“We had our first experience of Summer Bash last season and it was a fantastic event over the two days.

“Our game against Swinton will be remembered for different things, but the event itself was terrific and we are looking forward to enjoying it again and to going head to head against our newly-promoted derby rivals.

“You could say it’s just another game on the calendar, but we all know it’s going to be a bit more than that.

Six Kingstone Press Championship matches will be staged at Bloomfield Road over the weekend of May 27 and 28 — three on the Saturday and another three on the Sunday.

Oldham v Rochdale will kick-off at 2.30pm on the Saturday, following the League 1 cup final, which will kick-off at noon.

Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton said: “It will be an opportunity to showcase our club and the KP Championship as a whole in front of a TV audience.

“As the first of the six Championship games, we can set a benchmark for the weekend with what promises to be a highly-exciting derby.”