Preview: Oldham v Doncaster
Despite an injury pile-up, Oldham RL boss Tony Benson believes the squad is ready to progress to bigger and better things, starting with the visit of Doncaster to Whitebank on Sunday (3pm).
Roughyeds buried Rochdale 38-6 at Whitebank on Good Friday, but they paid a price with injuries and had to go to Whitehaven on Easter Monday without Andy Isherwood, Chris Clarke, Marcus St Hilaire and Matthew Fogarty, going down 40-24.
Said Benson: “I’ve never known so many injuries — we picked up more at Whitehaven — but we showed against Rochdale that we were moving in the right direction and there is no need to panic because we lost in Cumbria.
“It was our second game in four days, and that’s asking too much of part-time professionals. We are capable of playing regularly like we did against Rochdale and that’s the goal.
“I can’t name a side yet because players need checking out, but we will be up for it and ready for the challenge.”
Roughyeds will be aiming for their third home win in a row, having beaten London Skolars 52-26 and Rochdale Hornets 38-6 in their last two outings, scoring 17 tries in the process.
Winger Shaun Robinson, who has a thigh injury, is “highly unlikely” to play and several others will face late tests.
Back-row forward Isherwood remains sidelined with a collar bone injury while Chris Clarke (shoulder), Lucas Onyango (knee), Paul Noone (bicep), Martin Roden (elbow and shoulder), Fogarty (hamstring) and St Hilaire (calf) will be assessed before Benson names his line-up.
Added Tony: “Lucas played on Monday with a knee strapped, and he seemed to come through okay. An old injury is causing him problems, but he has a good chance.
“Paul Noone and Martin Roden are reasonably optimistic and Chris Clark also has a decent chance.”
It will be Oldham’s last home game for six weeks — to enable work to take place on the pitch — and the club has appealed to fans to turn up in numbers to ease the financial strain that will inevitably be caused by such a long spell without match-day income.