Televised cup clash moved

OLDHAM are to play their ‘home’ Northern Rail Cup quarter-final against Featherstone at the new Leigh Sports Village Stadium, a game that will be televised live on Sky Sports on Thursday, June 4 (7.30pm kick off).

With Boundary Park out of commission due to annual maintenance work from mid-May to mid-July, Roughyeds officials had provisionally lined up Sedgley Park as an alternative venue for the last-eight fixture.

When Sky Sports selected the game, though, those plans had to be shelved as the Whitefield ground is not suitable for live televised coverage.

“We are keen to get our matches screened on television in order to raise the profile of the club,” explained Roughyeds chief executive Chris Hamilton.

“We didn’t want to lose this opportunity because we couldn’t play at Boundary Park, but we had 24 hours only in which to find a suitable venue and inform the RFL that we had acquired an acceptable stadium.

“We spoke to various other venues, including Spotland (Rochdale) and Stalybridge Celtic, but venues where football is played were all keen to protect their pitches in June.

“However, we agreed in principle with Leigh Sporting Village and later I had a three-hour meeting over there in order to tie up the loose ends.”

Only the West Stand, with seating for 3,600 spectators, will be open for the game and normal matchday prices of £14 adults, £10 concessions and £5 for juniors apply.

Full ticket details are to be announced later, but all seats will be unreserved in order to give fans freedom of choice as to where they sit.

“This will be another big occasion for the Oldham club and the first time one of our ties in the Northern Rail Cup will have been televised,” added Mr Hamilton.

“We will be pulling out all the stops to get as many supporters as we can over to Leigh that night.”

Meanwhile, the club have confirmed that captain Robert Roberts has visited hospital for an x-ray on the painful rib injury which continues to prevent him from taking part in full-contact training.