Leatherbarrow aims for big capital gain

KICKING KING: Oldham's Scott Leatherbarrow is back up against his old club

SCOTT Leatherbarrow and on-loan Tuoyo Egodo will be in familiar surroundings when Oldham head for London on Sunday to take on the Broncos at Ealing Trailfinders Stadium (3pm).

A Londoner and now a full-time pro at Castleford Tigers, 20-year-old Egodo spent his later teenage years at Broncos, working his way through the academy system before catching the eye of Tigers scouts and ultimately accepting a life-changing offer to move north.

Leatherbarrow, a Wiganer, took a full-time ticket in the opposite direction when he left Batley Bulldogs after the 2015 season to spend last year in the capital.

He played 17 times in a Broncos team that finished runners-up to Leigh in the Championship regular season and missed out on the Million Pound game only because their for-and-against points difference was inferior to Salford's.

TACTICIAN

Leatherbarrow (26), now the Roughyeds' most influential tactician, played in three of the Broncos' seven games in the Super Eights Qualifiers, scoring one of his side's three tries in a stunning 19-16 win at Salford Red Devils.

On the field, life was good for the former Keighley Cougars and Batley half-back but neither he nor his girlfriend, also from Wigan, could settle in the big city, so he got his agent to put out feelers in the north.

The rest is history. He was signed by Oldham to succeed Lewis Palfrey and half a season on he is the Roughyeds' goalkicker, tactical linchpin and joint vice-captain with his fellow Wiganer, Sammy Gee.

Nothing would give him more satisfaction than to go back to Ealing with a victorious Oldham team, which came so desperately close to beating Broncos at Bower Fold in February.

It needed a late length-of-the-field individual try by Welsh winger Rhys Williams, top try scorer in the Championship last season, to earn the Broncos a 20-18 win.

Aussie coach Andrew Henderson conceded in post-match interviews that Broncos had used their get-out-of-jail card.

It wasn't a good day for Leatherbarrow, who had to quit just before half-time because of a badly-gashed head and then watched on helplessly near the end when his goalkicking replacement Dave Hewitt slammed a penalty against a post with Roughyeds trailing by two.

So near, so far . . . but, according to another senior player, Adam Clay, that experience will give Roughyeds the confidence to go to Ealing in a positive frame of mind and seeking a second consecutive away win for the first time since they arrived in the Championship last year.

Said the Roughyeds' ever-reliable right-winger: "We'll draw strength from the way we kept them in check at Bower Fold.

"They're a good side and they're full-time, but we'll aim to stick with them and then hopefully nick it near the end, like they did at our place.

"The main thing is we musn't let them get away from us.

"We're not used to playing on their artificial surface, but we'll be going there determined to give it our best shot."