OLDHAM moved up from up fifth to fourth in Betfred League 1 thanks to their 60-28 win at Hemel and Whitehaven’s 46-0 defeat at Bradford.
Roughyeds and Haven clash at the Vestacare Stadium on Sunday (3pm) in a match of such importance that Oldham could drop to as low as seventh if they slip up and other results go as expected.
“In a game like that we’ll have to improve massively, especially defensively,”
summed up coach Scott Naylor, speaking after the Roughyeds’ win at Hemel.
On a hard, brown pitch and with temperatures soaring into the 30s, Roughyeds sailed in for ten tries, but conceded five — three of them in the second half.
Said Naylor:
“It’s always pleasing to win and it was a win we needed, especially with the competition for play-off spots being so tight.
“It’s important you come to a place like this and get the job done, which we did.
“Am I pleased at the performance ? Not really.
“It wasn’t good to see them score 28 points. That’s not what we are about. We needed to be a lot better defensively and we will have to improve massively on defence against Whitehaven, who are one of our main rivals for a play-off spot.
“It’s always nice to win, but we could have done things a lot better and we could have been more switched-on, especially in defence.
“We’ve plenty to work on this week, but we’ll be ready on Sunday.”
Roughyeds have won seven of their ten league games at the Vestacare Stadium, but have lost narrowly to York City Knights (by 2 points), to Hunslet (8 points) and to Workington (2 points).
Some of their best performances and results have been away — at Workington and Whitehaven in Betfred League 1 and at Championship club Halifax in the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup.
Roughyeds expect the Cumbrians to provide stern opposition, but believe the renowned vocal support of red and white fans can help to make home advantage count.