Naylor ponders away-day puzzle

DETERMINED: Scott Naylor sees no reason why his side can't succeed at Dewsbury

SCOTT Naylor is determined to get rid of Oldham's away-day blues, starting at Dewsbury on Sunday.

In stark contrast to their results at a home-sweet-home Bower Fold, Roughyeds have won only two of their 22 league games on the road in the season and a half they've been in the Championship.

They drew 26-26 at Rochdale last month, but 19 losses out of 22 away from home is a worry for Naylor and a weakness he finds hard to fathom.

By way of comparison with Bower Fold results, Naylor's home birds have won 11 of their 18 games in Stalybridge over the same period, including three out of four this season.

They've beaten Sheffield, Bradford and Swinton this year and their only loss was 20-18 to full-time London Broncos, who snatched it in the last few minutes.

They've suffered some hefty losses away, but there have been decent performances too; for example, the 8-6 defeat at Featherstone; the draw at Rochdale; the 16-14 reverse at Halifax.

Time now, says Naylor, to start turning close-run things into away wins.

"We need to start picking up points away," said the Roughyeds boss. "It's ridiculous that we have this thing about how we perform when we're not at Bower Fold.

"It's got to be a mental thing. Whether we're playing at Dewsbury or at Bower Fold we're playing on a piece of grass.

"What's the difference? None."

The Rams hadn't won a match until the return as coach of their prodigal son, Neil Kelly, just before Easter. Back after 16 years, he made an immediate impact, spearheading cup and league wins against derby rivals Batley, either side of a big defeat at Sheffield.

Kelly is building up the Oldham game as the biggest of the season and one they must win to give themselves a fighting chance of staying up.

They've got a sixth round Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tie against Wakefield coming up, but Kelly has gone on record to say the Oldham game is bigger by far.

Replied Naylor: "They'll clearly be in a better frame of mind than they were three weeks ago, but our results and performances so far this year have shown that it's all about us. It's about what we do.

"If we turn up and play as well as we can play - as well as we have done in several games - we can compete with anybody in the division.

"We've beaten three of the teams who are around us and drawn with a fourth. If we continue to pick up points against our rivals we'll be okay in terms of consolidating our position, but it would be nice to start picking up more points on our travels."

With one third of the Championship and Shield gone (30 matches), Roughyeds have seven points from 10 games - one more than they had accrued at this stage last season.