Joseph faces race for play-off fitness

OLDHAM will leave it until the last possible moment before deciding whether Phil Joseph is fit enough to make it into the squad for Sunday’s Co-operative Championship One elimination semi-final against Hunslet at Boundary Park.

While the loose forward struggles with a strained hamstring, there is better news where Jamie I’Anson is concerned. The prop forward injured a toe last week but trained without any problems last night and should be fit to play.

With Lee Greenwood still missing – he may now need a scan on his injured shoulder – and Jamie Russo having left the club, it still leaves coach Tony Benson with a bare-bones squad of just 18 fit players – provided Joseph pulls through.

“We go into the game as underdogs and we know that,” said Benson, ahead of a clash against a Hawks side who got to this stage thanks to a last-gasp 21-18 win at Blackpool last week.

“We have enjoyed a good week’s training, though it got a bit disrupted when players were missing.

“We will get stuck in to a nice run tomorrow and I am sure that after last week, confidence going into this one will be pretty high.”

The referee for Sunday’s game (3pm kick off) is Jamie Leahy.

Oldham (from): Reilly, Onyango, Littler, St Hilaire, O’Connor, N Roden, Coyle, Boults, M Roden, Kerr, Robinson, Baines, Goulden, Menzies, Ashe, I’Anson, Joseph.

Hawks player-coach Paul March isn’t taking anything for granted despite his team’s 36-18 win over Oldham only two weeks ago.

“Oldham had a lot of illness then but those players were all back at the weekend and it did the job for them.”

He continued: “They’re going to be on a high and we’re up on confidence too. It’s going to be a difficult game but you expect that in a play-off series.

“Having beaten them a couple of weeks ago we might have a mental edge, but that counts for nothing if we don’t turn up and play well this weekend.”