Benson on a high for York showdown

DETERMINATION: Oldham’s Tommy Goulden makes a break towards the Hunslet Hawks line.

OLDHAM’S victorious but battle-scarred squad will be wrapped in the proverbial cotton wool this week — but coach Tony Benson believes that next opponents York should still be very worried indeed.

A rousing 54-30 home win over Hunslet set up a Co-operative Championship One final eliminator at the Huntington Stadium on Sunday and Benson is confident despite a long list of injury concerns.

Prior to the Hawks tie, the Oldham coach was robbed of the services of Craig Robinson. The hard-working forward suffered a broken hand in innocuous circumstances, simply grounding the ball at the end of the Saturday-morning session, but it is serious enough to require an operation and rules him out of action for the rest of the season.

Phil Joseph (hamstring) failed a fitness test the day before Sunday’s clash to add to the problems, leading Benson to name virtually the only 17 players he possibly could.

And during the match itself, a further seven players suffered injuries. Jamie I’Anson (dead leg), Lucas Onyango (knee), Paul Reilly (lower back), Craig Littler (hamstring), Tommy Goulden (hamstring), Marcus St Hilaire (calf), Matty Ashe (closed eye).

Nonetheless, he is confident that if the verve with which the Roughyeds set about Hunslet can be replicated, they are capable of winning a third successive knock-out clash.

“We have taken some knocks over a period of time but going into Saturday morning’s session we were on a bit of a high,” Benson said.

“Losing Phil (Joseph), the players bounced that one off but when Robbo (Craig Robinson) broke his hand, and it was clear that was what he had done, you could see we were a bit deflated.

“So I was concerned going into the game, as I felt we may have been a bit too stretched.

“But I was wrong, wasn’t I?

“Look out York. We are on a roll now and confidence is high.

“Get these injuries right during this week — there won’t be a lot of training done — but it will be a big week of recovery and getting ready for it.”

Oldham have lost both league games this season against the Knights, who were beaten 32-18 at Keighley in the qualifying semi-final yesterday.