Naylor heartened by a sterling effort

TOUGH TASK: Luke Adamson takes up the ball

FURTHER hit by injury and suspension, Oldham couldn't make it two wins in a row for the first time this season.

They went down 32-14 to a strong Featherstone Rovers outfit, but coach Scott Naylor was far from downhearted, preferring instead to talk of the "outstanding" effort from an injury-hit and inexperienced Oldham squad.

He said: "We should be immensely proud of what the boys put into this game.

"Featherstone are a quality side which, in my opinion, are on the same level as Hull KR and London Broncos.

"To acknowledge that there were only small periods of the game when you could see the difference between them and us was testimony to what our lads put into it.

"The effort was outstanding from a busted-up team that included a lot of young players who are learning their trade under extremely difficult conditions.

"There were a lot of positives to come from our performance and I hope people who didn't come to the game don't look at the result and think we must have been poor. We weren't.

"If we take this attitude and work ethic into our remaining nine games, all against teams in the bottom eight of the Championship, we'll have nine good chances to get some points on the table."

Featherstone boss Jon Sharp also acknowledged Oldham's fighting spirit. "They're a tough team to grind down," he said.

"I've told Scott (Naylor) I'm surprised they're where they are in the league because they're a tough lot - very difficult to break down."