Focus vital as Oldham battle fragile Halifax

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

BACK IN ACTION? Kenny Hughes could be restored to the Oldham line-up on Sunday

ANYTHING can happen when unpredictable Oldham go to out-of-sorts Halifax on Sunday in a bid to finally clinch a second season of Championship rugby in 2017.

After winning their first two Shield games against Workington Town at Bower Fold and Swinton Lions at Sale in a thoroughly professional and workmanlike manner, whoever expected Roughyeds to concede 136 points against Bradford Bulls and Sheffield Eagles?

Or to have Gareth Owen (high tackle) and Gary Middlehurst (dissent) sin-binned at Odsal and Richard Lepori sent off at Bower Fold for uncharacteristically punching Michael Knowles in a moment of madness?

Look at Halifax too. In June they put 60 points on Sheffield at The Shay and won 32-24 at Bradford. With four games left in the regular season they strolled to a 62-12 win at Swinton and looked good for a top-four spot.

CRASHED

You wouldn't have got odds on them losing the next SIX, but they crashed to Leigh, Featherstone and London in the regular season, missed out on the 'Middle 8s' and then flopped against Sheffield, Bradford and Dewsbury in the Shield.

Crisis? The Halifax Courier thought so; coach Richard Marshall thought not ­- and to prove his point he sent a young side to Whitehaven last Monday and they did themselves, and Oldham, a massive favour with a 30-10 win in a game that virtually condemned the Cumbrians to League One rugby next year.

Nevertheless, Marshall's men haven't won at The Shay for ages, having gone down to Featherstone (20-24), London (22-41), Sheffield (28-48) and Dewsbury Rams (22-24) in their last four games on home soil.

The last two were in the Shield and may have been influenced by the fact that they were always certain to finish in second place behind Bradford and thus qualify for a home semi-final.

That's the 'silly season' for you; the end of a 30-plus match campaign is fast approaching and thoughts are inevitably turning to next year.

Clubs are looking to fine-tune squads for better performances and results in 2017 and players are either locked in new contract talks or are looking to move elsewhere.

Like many other games this weekend, the result of the Halifax-Oldham clash will hinge on which team is the more focused.

On balance, Roughyeds have more to play for in that a win would mathematically secure their Championship spot next season. They don't want to be going into the Whitehaven home game next week under pressure, which would be the case if they were to come away from The Shay empty-handed and either Workington or Whitehaven were to cause an upset at Sheffield or Dewsbury.

Oldham fans will be looking for the return of Kenny Hughes on the bench and, if selected, he could be key to a vastly-improved Roughyeds performance and one that might be good enough to avenge a 12-6 defeat at the same venue in May.