IF results against Hunslet in the last few years are anything to go by, Oldham can go to the South Leeds Stadium on Sunday (3pm kick-off) with hope in their hearts and confidence in their bellies.
Of the last five games between these old enemies, whose confrontations go back to the early days of the Northern Union, Roughyeds have won three and drawn one and they haven’t lost in South Leeds in more than five years, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
The last time we went there, last season, we were coasting to victory with a substantial lead before the Yorkshiremen hit back strongly to snatch a 22-22 draw — and so clear-cut was the swing in fortunes that supporters felt deflated and disappointed rather than joyful and upbeat at grabbing a point away from home.
Since then both clubs have improved significantly, Hunslet claiming with lots of justification that they are the form team of the competition after climbing to second in the table with four straight wins, including a 28-8 home win over Doncaster.
The fact remains, however, that we beat them 40-20 at the Vestacare Stadium as recently as the beginning of June and if we can do it once we can do it twice, especially on a ground where we have a decent record.
Dewsbury Rams apart, Alan Kilshaw’s men boast the best defensive record in the division, but Roughyeds have the second best attacking stats with the overall differential 230 for Hunslet and 221 for Stu Littler’s lads.
Throw in Hunslet’s 20 league points to Oldham’s 19, both from 13 games played, and all the indicators point to a tight, evenly-contested thriller in which either side can take the spoils, depending on which side adapts best to the challenge, how the 50-50 calls go, which side gets penalised most, which way the ball bounces, which side makes the most mistakes etc etc.
Is that sitting on the fence ? Maybe it is; may be, just may be, there’s so little between them — and that could apply to the current top FOUR — that the run-in to the final positioning is little more than a lottery in which anything can happen.
Kilshaw believes that his side’s recent win over Doncaster can allow Hunslet to go into their final five games of the regular season in optimistic mood. He said: “We’ve been under the radar a bit, but we’re now the hunted, not the hunters.”
Oldham need no telling that they will need to play better than they did when beating North Wales Crusaders last time out — a game summed up by several authoritative voices as “a win’s a win.”’ In other words: “Not entirely satisfactory, but at least the right result.”
The Roughyeds’ chances of going all the way and finishing top suffered a near-mortal blow with defeats in consecutive games by the then top two, Dewsbury and Doncaster, but both games could, and perhaps should, have gone the other way and Roughyeds can point to their own errors and their inability to correctly manage situations when they are well in front to find the reasons for no points from a possible four.
Put those things right and who knows where Roughyeds can finish?
