Tyson in hot water after red

George Tyson.

GEORGE Tyson's red card for fighting after the final hooter in the Law Cup defeat by Rochdale could cost him his place in Oldham's opening Championship clash against Sheffield Eagles at Bower Fold on Sunday, February 5.

Tyson and Rochdale's Paddy Jones were sent off at the end of a bruising derby battle which Hornets won 24-12 after their forwards totally dominated the second half.

The Oldham centre was given a rough ride by an aggressive, fired-up Hornets outfit who bundled him into touch three times - twice on the first tackle.

His dismissal came just minutes after Scott Turner and Jamel Chisholm were taken off injured, Turner with a calf strain and Chisholm with a sore knee.

They will be assessed at training tomorrow along with several other members of the squad who didn't play against Rochdale, including Danny Grimshaw, Nathan Chappell, Liam Thompson, Ben Davies, Danny Langtree and Adam Clay.

Oldham will welcome a blank weekend to give the walking wounded more time to recover.

Two defeats and a draw in a three-match pre-season programme don't bode well for a flying start and Scott Naylor said: "Rochdale deserved their win. They were more aggressive and smarter than we were. Congratulations to their players and coaching staff.

"It's our first Law Cup loss in five years so we have to take it on the chin.

"In each of our three warm-up games we've not played the way I wanted us to play. We've played the wrong way. That can only mean one thing - we (coaching staff) are not getting our message across so we'll have to adopt new ways of getting it across.

"We've got a good squad made up of good lads who I believe in."