Naylor salutes gutsy amateurs

HELD UP . . . Oldham forward Danny Langtree

SCOTT Naylor heaped praise on Haydock's passion and energy while admitting that he was less than happy with how Oldham started.

Roughyeds went two tries down inside the first 10 minutes as the amateurs gave their vociferous fans plenty of reasons to raise the roof for the benefit of the BBC's streamed internet coverage.

Naylor's men steadied themselves and went on to win comfortably with 28 points to spare, but the Roughyeds boss was adamant that the poor start needed to be addressed.

He said: "We made the first mistake, gave away the first penalty and let in the first try. Haydock came out with more passion and energy and deserve a lot of credit.

"The pitch (wet, sloppy, heavy) was a leveller, but you can't take anything away from Haydock, whose pride and passion rubbed off on their fantastic supporters.

"It took us a while to realise that we were in a game. Once we had done that we never looked likely to have any serious problems.

"But that's not good enough. We have Batley Bulldogs away next and if we start in the same way over there we'll soon be in big trouble.

"I know Chris Smith (Haydock coach) from our playing days (Naylor was a centre at Bradford Bulls when Smith played on the wing for Castleford, St Helens and Hull) and he is doing a good job.

"Everyone at Haydock should be extremely proud of what they've achieved."

Oldham chairman Chris Hamilton presented Smith with an inscribed glass souvenir of the biggest day in the amateur club's history and said everyone at Haydock had done the community game proud.

He added: "Pre-game it was a pleasure to work with them and especially with their club secretary Frank Bradshaw."

Of his squad's achievement in becoming the first level-eight club to reach round four of the Challenge Cup, coach Smith said: "It has been a fabulous experience for the boys and it will stand them in good stead as we defend our NWML's title."