Oldham fired up for Stags face-off

Josh Crowley

COACH Scott Naylor believes Oldham are ready to succeed where they have already failed twice this season against Hemel Stags.

The Southerners drew 20-20 at Whitebank in March and triumphed 44-32 at home in June on a day when Naylor admitted to being “embarrassed”.

They return to Whitebank on Sunday (3pm) and Naylor says his Roughyeds will have more than enough motivation to get the right result at the third time of asking.

“We’ve beaten every other team in the division bar these,” he said. “And we’ve got an unbeaten home record to defend as well.

“We’ve had two weeks to prepare and we’ve done all the right things. We took it easy a little bit last week and did some non-rugby training to change the routine.

“This week the work has been tough, intense and totally focused.

“Everybody is fit and available apart from Adam Files so I have plenty of choices to make.

“I’ll be picking the team which I think will beat Hemel and the one which I hope will put in the sort of performance to get us the win.”

Among the players hoping to get the nod after injury absences are hooker Kenny Hughes and centre David Cookson, but with a full squad at his disposal Naylor will have options right through the side.

Hemel will be without Stephen Bannister, who damaged a knee on debut last week, but Matt Cook and Ciaren Clement-Pascall will be set to return after missing last week’s home defeat by Hunslet.

Coach Troy Perkins said: “We must get something out of this game in our quest to make the play-offs.

“Oldham is a tough place to go and they play the Whitebank slope well. But we know we can play well against them so we'll go with confidence."