Oldham hoping for cup fillip

Scott Naylor

OLDHAM are hoping for better luck — and a home tie — when the draw for the fourth round of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup is made in Swinton tonight.

They’ve gone into the hat five times in the Scott Naylor era and on four occasions they’ve had to travel.

As a third-tier club for the first three years of Naylor’s tenure as head coach, Roughyeds entered the competition in round three.

They lost 36-10 at Hunslet Hawks in 2013; won 42-24 at amateurs Egremont before losing 60-6 at Bradford Bulls in 2014; and saw off Coventry at Whitebank 46-6 in 2015 to earn a fourth-round tie at Sheffield Eagles where they went down 44-20.

HAT

They are due a home tie when they go into the hat tonight with the other 11 Kingstone Press Championship clubs, seven from League One, including French club Toulouse, and five amateur sides who each beat semi-pro opponents in round three last weekend.

On a fantastic weekend for community clubs, Featherstone Lions, Kells (Whitehaven), Lock Lane (Castleford), Pilkington Recs (St Helens) and Siddal (Halifax) all knocked out League One opponents to earn the chance of a crack at Championship big guns Bradford Bulls, Leigh Centurions, London Broncos or Sheffield Eagles.

Ex-Test stars Adrian Morley and Paul Wellens will make the draw, which fans can watch from 7pm by visiting www.rugby-league.com/challengecup.

Setting out their stall to get back into Super League this season after narrowly missing out last year, Bradford play Oldham at Bower Fold on Sunday (3pm) in a Championship game that has the potential to pull in the Roughyeds best crowd for years.

The club for which Naylor played in three Challenge Cup finals at Murrayfield, Twickenham and Cardiff and two Super League Grand Finals at Old Trafford, head for Stalybridge as Championship leaders and the only unbeaten side in the competition.