‘Bad loser’ delivers positive message

GARY Middlehurst didn’t sign for Oldham to play in a losing side, he says.

“I’m a bad loser. I hate it,” revealed the man who in only a handful of games for Roughyeds has become a firm favourite with fans.

At 32, he is the squad’s senior citizen, a couple of years older than half-backs Steve Roper and Danny Grimshaw. But he has lost none of the fire and brimstone that built him a reputation as a mean and menacing opponent in his years with Rochdale and North Wales Crusaders.

His all-action displays down the Roughyeds’ left side were a large part of the wins against long-established Championship sides Batley Bulldogs and Sheffield Eagles.

On Saturday (2pm) comes the fifth-round Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tie at Super League Club Hull KR, last season’s Wembley finalists, then its back to Championship survival with trips to Whitehaven then Featherstone Rovers.

“There’s a lot of talk of ‘survival’, but I think we’ll stay up comfortably,” said Middlehurst. “Since those terrible defeats over Easter, the coach has told us to go out and express ourselves and play with confidence and self-belief and it's working.

“We’ve set a standard for ourselves now. If we can maintain it I don’t think we should have any concerns. At the very least I can see us finishing two places above the bottom two - maybe a couple of places higher than that, which would take us to half way. It’s a tough competition. Nobody is running away with it.”

Middlehurst, who has always played above his weight, revealed he lost three stone in the six months before he signed for Oldham, when he and his wife were travelling around the world.

“I’ve put some of it back on,” he added, "but I still need to add about another seven or eight pounds.

“Whichever club I’ve been at, I’ve never done much training over and above what I do with the club.”