Coach Naylor weighs up options for Fax meeting

DOWN YOU GO . . . Steven Roper and Gary Middlehurst bring down their Leigh rival at Bower Fold.

WITH only a short turnaround before their next Championship game at Halifax on Friday (8pm), Oldham RL boss Scott Naylor will be looking at his selection options in the next few days.

Four of the Roughyeds’ last six outings have been against full-time pro opposition ­— Sheffield and Leigh in the league, Hull KR and Warrington Wolves in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup ­— so he will welcome the chance of going head to head with Halifax at The Shay on a more level playing field.

The main injury worry will centre on full-back Richard Lepori, who missed yesterday’s heavy home defeat by Leigh because of a shoulder injury, his place going to a debutant from Huddersfield on the dual-reg arrangement, 20-year-old Jared Simpson, son of former Bradford winger Roger Simpson.

Two more dual-reg players were also drafted in, Kruise Leeming at hooker and Liam Johnson at centre, who scored one of the Roughyeds’ three tries.

With only three props in the 17, Phil Joy and Michael Ward starting and Joe Burke on the bench, Tyler Dickinson would have come in handy, but he was in the Giants squad that lost narrowly at Catalans Dragons in Super League.

Danny Langtree, out for three weeks with an ankle injury, made his comeback off the bench, but perhaps significantly he wasn’t introduced until quarter of an hour from the end.

Jon Ford (knee) and Craig Briscoe (knee), long-term injury victims, are not ready yet, while Tom Ashton is still working on his general fitness after being out for months.

Another three who could come into the reckoning are Lewis Palfrey, Adam Files and Jack Holmes, who didn’t figure yesterday.

Naylor opted to go with Gareth Owen and Steve Roper at half-back; with Johnson and Danny Grimshaw at centre.

Tickets for the Summer Bash game against Swinton Lions on Sunday, May 29 (3pm) are available from Whitebank this week from 9.30am Mon-Fri, closing at 1.30pm today, tomorrow and Thursday; 3pm on Wednesday and 4pm on Friday.