Positive Clay holds a candle for play-offs

Photo: Dave Murgatroyd

REPEAT SHOW? Adam Clay (centre) prepares to take the ball during Oldham's 26-18 win over Haven

ADAM Clay is a self-confessed "cup half full" man.

He's also an odd one out . . . the only person in the Oldham Rugby camp, and that includes coaches, players, club officials and fans, who is thinking of what can be achieved beyond Sunday's massive relegation battle at Bower Fold.

Eighty minutes of rugby at Stalybridge could well determine the destiny of two well-matched sides who desperately need to win.

If Roughyeds can repeat their 26-18 success on the same ground in June they'll stay up and Whitehaven will be gone.

If the Cumbrians prevail, as they did 14-6 at home in April, they will cut Oldham's lead in the table to one point and it will all go down to the last day of the season when Scott Naylor's men are at Dewsbury and 'Haven entertain Swinton Lions, who are still not safe themselves.

Three clubs with one mission - to stay up.

OPTIMIST

Ever-the-optimist Clay, though, thinks all the talk around the Oldham camp should be of beating Whitehaven and Dewsbury to give themselves a serious chance of qualifying for the semi-finals with Bradford Bulls, Halifax and Sheffield Eagles.

"We should be looking up rather than looking down," said right-wing Clay, the latest member of the current squad to re-sign for next year.

"We are capable of winning both and perhaps making the semis. We've got to have the self-belief to think we can do that. If we do, the other thing will take care of itself.

"Whitehaven's 56-12 win at Dewsbury was a real turn-up for the book and it will be another do-or-die thing for them on Sunday.

"What we need to do is stay calm and relaxed, complete our sets, play it tough and eradicate those lapses of concentration which have cost us dearly.

"We've got to stop conceding penalties too because they give the opposition easy yards and allow them to dictate.

"From memory we also conceded lots of penalties in League One last year, but in that division we were so much fitter than most of the other sides that we were able to cope with it relatively easily."

Clay (25) has scored 32 tries in 60 games for Oldham since joining the club half way through the 2014 season after seeing service with Barrow and North Wales Crusaders.

He registered 20 in 23 in last year's promotion run, but it's been tougher in the Championship, only eight in 28.

STANDARD

"I still prefer the higher standard. It keep you on your toes. And it's nice to have some stability at one club. I've done the one-year-here and one-year-there thing and I've played more games for Oldham now than any other club I've been with.

"As Oldham want me, I can't see myself playing anywhere else and it goes without saying that I expect that to be in the Championship."

Whitehaven will have different ideas. They looked doomed when beaten 30-10 by Halifax in their last home game, but with nearly the same side they went to Dewsbury and absolutely demolished them in the second half, scoring 46 points against six.

It was a typical 'silly season' result and one has to question how much was down to the Cumbrians' strength and power in the forwards and how much to the total and inept capitulation of a Rams side that was booed off the pitch.

There is no doubt that 'Haven have upped the tempo since coach James Coyle left and four senior players - Dave Allen, Carl Forster, Craig Calvert and Scott McAvoy - were told to sort it out.

The question remains: Were they THAT good at Dewsbury, or did the Rams sit back in the second half and simply admire the way Allen and Forster led 'Haven's forwards on the rampage up the middle ?

We'll find out on Sunday.