Roper aiming to hit mark

LINED UP: Steve Roper prepares to kick for goal.

STEVE Roper couldn’t have wished for a better game to mark his 150th career appearance than a top-of-the-table showdown with Keighley Cougars.

Nor could he have been squared up, at League One level, with a more in-your-face opponent than Cougars’ player-coach Paul March. At 36, March will handle the ball more than anybody else in a Cougars jersey and will employ every trick to give his side an advantage.

When beaten at Cougar Park, a younger Oldham side showed canny veterans like March and 33-year-old Paul Handforth far too much respect and allowed them to completely dictate a first half and gain a 26-0 lead.

Handforth, who scored two tries, is out injured this time and Oldham won’t be losing any sleep about that. Said Roper: “It will probably mean that even more stuff will go through March. He and Handforth

controlled the game at their place. Over the years I’ve played a few times against March. He’s hugely experienced and he knows the game inside out. He’s obviously one of their main threats.”

Roper has reached his 150-game milestone with 14 for Widnes, 13 for Workington, 86 for Rochdale, three for Gloucester and 33 for Oldham. By comparison, March touched 400 last week.

In the first half at Cougar Park, Roughyeds looked in awe of their highly-experienced opponents. The defeat was the second of three in four games — hard to believe after Oldham’s run of seven wins.

The side was old-headed at Cougar Park, but it won’t happen again on Sunday.

Added Roper: “We let ourselves down at their place. We weren’t ourselves. We feel bad about that, and now we’ve got a good opportunity to put things right. The pack’s on fire. It’s a lot easier for a little half-back like me to play behind a set of forwards like ours.

“If we play as well as we can - and certainly like we played in Wrexham - it will be hard for any team in our division to get the better of us.”