MIKE Ford is far too experienced in the whys and wherefores of rugby league to underestimate North Wales Crusaders in tomorrow’s (Sunday) battle of Boundary Park.
Ford’s men have beaten Crusaders home and away in the regular Betfred League One season and the league records of the two teams are miles apart, but that will count for ZILCH in this televised Boundary play-off (3pm start), as Crusaders proved last Sunday in winning up at Workington and bringing the Cumbrians’ season to an early end, writes ROGER HALSTEAD.
For the record, Oldham finished fourth and lost only FIVE of their 18 league games, with the second-best ‘points for’ record; the third-best ‘points against’ stat; and the third-best ‘points differential’ — figures which gave them 25 points overall to second-place Hunslet’s 28.
By comparison, Crusaders finished sixth, lost ELEVEN (including defeats by Oldham in Colwyn Bay and at the Vestacare Stadium) and ended up a massive FOURTEEN points adrift of Hunslet after going neck-and-neck with Rochdale for the last play-off spot and finally getting there with only two points to spare.
Workington were sandwiched in between Crusaders (14 points) and Oldham (25 points) with 11 league wins to Oldham’s 12 (and one draw) and the North Wales’s team seven wins. The Cumbrians were red-hot favourites to win on Cumbrian soil at the newly-named Fibrus Community Stadium, but Crusaders came up with a shock 26-10 win despite losing twice to Town in the league.
Ford’s fear is that this Crusaders side, a big, physical lot, will have taken great heart from their against-the-odds win at Workington and will be out to do it again against an Oldham team that delivered little against Doncaster a week ago and were hammered 36-0.
The play-offs have a habit of throwing up quirky results, but we all know that if Roughyeds play anything like their best they will make the most of home advantage and qualify for a tilt away from home against the losers of Hunslet v Doncaster at the South Leeds Stadium, which doesn’t kick-off until 6pm.
“It will be tough, but we are starting again from last week — a new beginning,” said Ford. “It’s like a cup comp now. The losers of this game are out and the season is over. The winners are in action again next week against the losers of Hunslet v Doncaster.
“Its a MUST-WIN game for both us and North Wales so its all to play for. If we win we are away next, and if we were to win that one we would be away again in the final. This is our last home game of the season and it could be the end of the season. I know it’s on TV, but we urge as many fans as possible to support us in person, not merely for financial reasons but because the size of the crowd and the volume of their vocal support can help in the overall mission. Anybody will tell you that.
“We are treating this as a quarter-final cup-tie — and to be at home in a quarter-final can’t be bad.”
Results on the field are of paramount importance, but the new board has big ambitions beyond this season and the club is keen to stress that, whatever the result tomorrow, the rugby league revolution will go on and the directors will continue their push to re-establish rugby league locally to the levels it used to enjoy.
Tomorrow afternoon, for instance, their will be another major announcement.
But back to the game.
Ford has named his 21 which comprises the 18 on duty at Doncaster, plus Jack Blagbrough, Joe Hartley and Josh Johnson, who joins the 21 in place of Kieran Tyrer after missing the Doncaster game because of suspension.
Crusaders half-back Brad Billsborough, who is going to Midlands Hurricanes next season, didn’t play at Workington, for whatever reason, and player-coach Carl Forster says Crusaders will have a battle on their hands to re-sign a few other players.
Top try-scorer and bustling wing Rob Massam, a legendary figure at the club, is retiring at the end of this season, while the ever-popular Jono Smith has still to announce what he is doing next year.
Prop Smith, one feels, is unlikely to play tomorrow, but Massam could be on the left wing, hoping to produce a top performance in order to delay his rugby league farewell for another week.
Three former Oldham players will also see this Boundary Park battle as a special reason for playing well — the giant Matt Reid at left centre, inside Massam, and forward subs Jordan Andrade and Matthew Fletcher.
Big, strong and almost unstoppable when hitting a crash ball at speed near the line, Andrade scored two tries in defeat when North Wales gave Roughyeds a scare at the Vestacare Stadium a few weeks ago before a late drop goal by Martyn Ridyard and a try by Tyrer took Oldham home.
