Roughyeds bidding to turn the screw

Oldham V Rochdale Hornets, Adam Clay scores Oldham's 2nd try

TWO out-of-form sides will do battle at Bower Fold on Sunday, as Oldham bid to heap more misery on ailing Bradford Bulls.

Geoff Toovey's full-time visitors - World Club Challenge winners as recently as 2006 - completed a comprehensive fall from grace in losing 26-10 at home to Toulouse last week, a result that confirmed the Bulls' relegation to the bottom tier.

And any lingering hopes that supporters might have had of a reprieve were shot down by a report in the local press this week that there will be no saviour from the drop in terms of a beneficial restructure of the Championship.

Bradford are marooned at the bottom, stuck on zero points after suffering a 12-point deduction for entering administration.

Aussie coach Toovey's future as coach is in doubt too, as Scott Naylor's men try to emulate the thrilling 26-22 win over the Bulls courtesy of Kieran Gill's last-gasp try back in early April.

However, there is also the more recent spectre of the 47-12 loss at the Provident Stadium to put right.

"It was a huge win for us the last time we played them at home, but we have to put right the disappointment of what happened at their ground," said Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton.

"They are still a full-time club and the reality is that we are two sides in poor form. We have won one in 13 and they have won one in their last 15 - and that was against us.

"There has been no moping around from the players. Training has been of a really good intensity and quality in the past couple of weeks."

After Sunday, Oldham have five games remaining in the Championship Shield in which to gain the necessary points to climb out of the relegation zone: Batley (away), Rochdale (away), Toulouse (home), Swinton (away) and Dewsbury (home).

Most of those fixtures promise to be real scraps and Hamilton is taking nothing for granted as to Bradford's mindset.

"It's an unknown for us as to how they will approach the game," he added.

"But it's something we have said before many times - it's about how we approach the game and what we do on the day.

"Our home record at Bower Fold has been good, certainly last season and relatively speaking this time around.

"We have big games coming up, not least the derbies away to Rochdale and Swinton. But while it's a cliche, we cannot afford to look any further ahead than our next game."

A Swinton defeat at home to Sheffield, coupled with an Oldham win, would see the two clubs switch places in the table.