Naylor salutes battling Oldham

Roughyeds’ head coach Scott Naylor.

PRIDE in performance; pride in the jersey; pride in the club.

Scott Naylor said Oldham showed all three qualities against Leigh’s galaxy of stars despite their 48-18 loss at LSV.

Last year’s League One champions have lost their first two games in the Championship – the first one 22-0 at home to London Broncos – but head coach Naylor was buoyed by how well they performed for most of the game at Leigh yesterday.

Oldham scored 18 points, including the last two tries of the game, and in the regular season last year, before the Super 8s, only Bradford Bulls and Dewsbury Rams scored more on the Centurions home ground.

Naylor also believed there was little between the sides apart from a bad spell for Roughyeds early in the second half when the full-time professionals piled on 28 points in 17 minutes.

His bravehearts had already been depleted by the loss through injury in the first half of Steve Roper and Liam Thompson.

With Dewsbury Rams next on the agenda at Bower Fold on Sunday (3pm), Roper and Thompson are added to an injury list which also includes Danny Grimshaw and Craig Briscoe.

Said Naylor: “We couldn’t have had it any tougher than going up against full-time opposition in our first two games. We’ve learned a lot in them and I’m pleased that, for most of the game at Leigh, we were a lot better than we were against London. Even when they were conceding points you could see the pride in the side.”

At the end of the game, Oldham players went across to their fans who gave them a rousing reception.