Palfrey: fresh start for Oldham

HAVING reached the half-way point of the Kingstone Press League One season in second place, Oldham will be looking to start over and do even better in part two.

The side won eight and lost three of its first 11 games of the season: “We're looking at a fresh start, a new beginning," said club captain Lewis Palfrey, who needs 15 points to reach 500 in his two and a half seasons at Whitebank.

“The win at Swinton took us to half way on a high, and we need to build on that as we turn the corner on to the home run.”

Starting against Gloucester All Golds at Cheltenham on Saturday six of the remaining 11 games are away - including five long trips. The five at Whitebank are all against top-eight Northern sides, each with a realistic chance of making the play-offs.

Roughyeds have a 50 per cent success rate against the division’s northern powerhouse sides, and still to come ar games against York, Rochdale, Keighley, Barrow and Swinton at home, and Gloucester, London Skolars, North Wales, Hemel, Newcastle and Oxford away.

Oldham coach Scott Naylor, meanwhile, will tonight check on George Tyson (knee), Adam Neal (stomach bug) and Jon Ford (dislocated finger) before naming his side to face Gloucester.

He dismissed any notion that Roughyeds will be disadvantaged because they are not used to playing on Saturdays.

Naylor said: “We lost at Barrow last time we played on a Saturday, but I’m not having that as an excuse.

“It obviously disrupts our routine because we get together only twice during the week instead of the usual three times, but it shouldn’t and it won’t make any difference to how we play. It’s no big deal.”