Capital spur

PERHAPS unwittingly, Jermaine Coleman has given Oldham extra motivation ahead of Sunday’s clash with London Skolars at the New River Stadium.

Hinting that high-flying Roughyeds don’t like playing in the capital, the Skolars player-coach said: “My lads know the teams they tend to play well against.

“Oldham don’t necessarily travel down here very well and that was a lot of the talk (among his players) on the bus back from Barrow last week and then in training.

“It’s a big challenge for us, but we are looking forward to it.”

Oldham have won in each of their three visits to London during Scott Naylor’s time as team boss, 44-24, 18-16 and 38-28.

None of them was easy and the 18-16 win was a trifle fortunate, given that it hinged on Mo Agoro’s fantastic try-saving tackle on Matt Bradley on the Oldham try line in the last minute.

Naylor said: “We’ve never been comfortable against London. We always seem to end up in a bit of a fight. They are usually tough games.

“Their results haven’t been amazing this year, but we’ll be showing them exactly the same respect we showed Rochdale.

“It’s a long journey and it takes a lot out of you physically and mentally. To play well, there’s a lot of things that have to go right. It’s not an easy place to go to.”

The bookies will regard it as a banker Oldham win — and an opportunity to pile on some points and improve their for-and-against stats.

Skolars are next to the bottom of Kingstone Press League One with 11 defeats in 13 games, one of them a 48-6 mauling at Whitebank in April.

In stark contrast, Naylor’s men are in a rich run of form, having won their last five games, and are being widely touted as strong candidates for a top-two finish, which would see them within 80 minutes of going up to the Championship.

Lewis Palfrey, the captain, has kicked more competition goals, 64, and scored more points, 149, than any other player in League One.

In all competitions, only two players in the entire professional game have scored more goals than Palfrey’s 85 — Leigh’s Martyn Ridyard (123) and Ryan Shaw of Bradford Bulls (100).

OCCUPYING

Roughyeds are League One’s leading scorers with 517 points, but the other four teams currently occupying the top-five play-off spots, North Wales, York, Keighley and Barrow, have better defensive records.

Of the same pack of promotion chasers, Keighley, North Wales and York have superior for-and-against differentials, which could prove decisive at the end of the season, given that only five points separate the top eight.

Though Oldham would never acknowledge it publicly, and probably don’t even dwell on it privately, their fans will certainly be looking for a score to enhance those league-table stats.

Elsewhere in the division, six teams will be locked in all-Northern ties that could reshape the top few places, namely Barrow v North Wales, Keighley v Swinton and York v Newcastle.