Big tests looming for Roughyeds

OLDHAM’S exciting season in the 14-club Kingstone Press League One hit a new high following their 32-6 win at London Skolars.

Thanks to Keighley’s 22-14 home defeat by mid-table Swinton, Scott Naylor’s men are back on top, this time with a two-point lead and better stats.

North Wale Crusaders, who have beaten Roughyeds twice this season have crept up to third, three points behind the leaders but like Keighley with a game in hand.

Oldham’s next two outings are North Wales away on Sunday (2.30pm) and Keighley at Whitebank seven days later (3pm) — games that will go a long way to deciding which two sides will contest the one v two play-off with promotion the prize.

The losing team then goes into another play-off with teams finishing three, four and five to determine who fills the second promotion spot.

“To win in Wrexham against North Wales we’ll have to play a lot better than we did in London, but I think its fair to say we owe ’em one,” said Naylor.

At the end of March, Crusaders won 18-16 at Whitebank in the semi-final of the iPro Sport Cup, which they went on to win by beating Swinton in the final, and in early June they won here again in the league, 38-28, thanks to two tries by Warrington’s dual-reg wing flier Kevin Penny.

That was the last game Oldham lost, their win in London yesterday taking them out to six victories in a row against Oxford, York and Rochdale at home and Swinton, Gloucester and London away.