Naylor salutes players' attitudes

Scott Naylor was pleased with his side's attitude despite suffering a 24-22 defeat by York City Knights

By Ryan Booth

Roughyeds' head coach Scott Naylor was pleased with his side's attitude despite suffering a narrow 24-22 defeat at the hands of promotion rivals York City Knights yesterday (Sunday) at the Vestacare Stadium.

Despite claiming two tries through Matt Reid, alongside further scores from Danny Langtree and Ben West, Oldham ultimately fell short when Paul Crook saw his conversion hit the upright and bounce agonizingly wide.

“Our attitude was first class,” said Naylor.

“The willingness to work was 100-per-cent as always.

“At the end of the day we lost because we hit a post with a conversion.

“I hope our fans realise how tough this division is going to be and I hope they stick with us like they did the last time we were in League 1.”

While Naylor was pleased with his side's work ethic, he admits there is still plenty of improvements to make if Oldham are to form a promotion push this season.

“There are going to be a lot of tight, close games in this division and we need to be a little bit more patient in possession and smarter on the ball,” added Naylor.

“York were very good in the right areas of the field and they did the simple things a little bit better than us.”

Roughyeds now lie sixth in the Betfred League 1 table and Naylor admits climbing out of the division is not going to be an easy task this time around.

He added: “It turned out to be the game I thought it would be.

"If anyone was thinking we were going to come into this division and dominate everybody they were sadly mistaken.

“This game showed just how tough this division is going to be. Several very good teams are going to be in the play-offs come the end of the season.

“Bradford beat York by two and York have now beaten us by two. That’s how competitive it’s going to be at the top end of Betfred League 1.”

Meanwhile, tickets are now on sale for Oldham's mouth-watering fourth round Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tie at Halifax next Sunday (kick-off 3pm).

Tickets are priced at: £15 Adults, £10 Concessions and £1 Juniors - and can be purchased from the club's offices at the Vestacare Stadium between 10am and 3pm from Monday to Friday this week.

Match-day prices at the MBI Shay Stadium will be: Adults £20, Concessions £15, Juniors (Under-16s) £5 - the club urges all supporters to purchase tickets through the Roughyeds to avoid the increase on the day of the game.