Options aplenty for Farrimond

RUGBY LEAGUE

CRAIG Farrimond has the luxury of player options to him for tomorrow’s home game against Elland (2.30pm kick-off).

The Saddleworth Rangers coach hopes that in front of the club’s home fans at Shaw Hall Bank Road, the first team can finally get the monkey off its back.

Nine straight losses — the last a 36-26 defeat at Kells, after being 26-6 up at half-time — have not served to wreck the confidence of a group of players who sit bottom of Division One in the National Conference League, Farrimond insists.

And with the likes of key men Dale Lowe and Ben Whitehead in contention to start against a club located a short throw across the Pennines, he hopes for a victory to end a sequence of narrow defeats.

“We took Kells apart in the first half but with only 16 lads and with a couple who hadn’t played for a long time, fitness played a big part after that,” Farrimond said.

“The good news is, we have got a lot of players back and have had some good sessions since.

“For the first time in a while there will be some selection dilemmas.”

In Division Two, Oldham St Anne’s are aiming to bounce back from a 31-18 home defeat to Underbank last time out.

Mick Worrall’s side — who have one win to their name so far — travel to West Yorkshire to face Dudley Hill in a bid to double their points tally to four.

That would serve to pull closer to moving out of the bottom-two relegation places, while the hosts tomorrow are in mid-table.

Waterhead’s home game against Crosfields in Division Three has been postponed at the request of the visitors, who are unable to field a side tomorrow.