BY finishing second in Betfred League 1 and taking pole position in the play-off group of five, Oldham get the benefit of time off this weekend while the other four qualifiers go into battle.
Newcastle Thunder will be at home to Doncaster on Sunday (2.30pm kick-off and streamed on the OuRLeague app) while Hunslet will entertain Workington Town at the South Leeds Stadium.
Roughyeds will rest up and watch with interest while preparing for their qualifying semi-final at the Vestacare Stadium on Sunday week, September 22 against the winners of Newcastle v Doncaster.
“We’ve a few niggles and bumps and bruises so we welcome the weekend off for obvious reasons,” said head coach Scott Naylor.
The big game at the Vestacare Stadium on Sunday week (Sep 22) will kick-off at 2pm and will be streamed live on the OuRLeague app.
It’s a shared gate, all-pay game (like a cup-tie) and usual league match prices will apply for everyone, namely £14 for adults and £12 for concessions with an additional £2 transfer to seats in the stand. Juniors (under-16s) pay £2 at the turnstiles with a £3 transfer to seats.
Seat season-ticket holders have until 3pm next Wednesday, September 18, to claim their seats.
They can do that by calling into the Roughyeds office at the Vestacare Stadium (inside the ground) between 10am and 3pm on each of the following days: Wednesday, September 11; Friday, September 13; Monday, September 16; and Wednesday, September 18.
Seats will be £16 adults, £14 concessions and £5 for junior season-ticket holders, all of which are the equivalent of normal league-match prices.
Payment by cash or cheque only and fans will need to have their season-ticket books with them and present voucher B with their payment.
For all fans other than seat season-ticket holders who wish to claim their seats before 3pm next Wednesday, September 18 it will be pay on the gate.
Roughyeds finished the league season in second place and two points behind champions Whitehaven, who win promotion to the Betfred Championship automatically.
The Cumbrians and the Roughyeds each won 15 of their 20 games, more than any other club, but ‘Haven drew two while Oldham lost five.
Third-placed Newcastle were top scorers with 741 points with Oldham second on 655, an average of 32.7 points per match.
Defensively, Whitehaven were best, conceding 283, with Doncaster second (309) and Oldham third on 341.
If Roughyeds beat Newcastle or Doncaster at the Vestacare Stadium on Sunday week they go straight through to the final which will also be played at the Vestacare Stadium on Sunday, October 6 — that’s their reward for finishing second and narrowly missing out on automatic promotion.
If they were to lose on September 22 they would get another bite of the cherry with another home game on September 29, the play-off structure being heavily loaded in favour of the teams finishing second and third.
