Oldham Rugby League Club’s next game — the Betfred League 1 derby against Rochdale Hornets at the Vestacare Stadium on Good Friday — has been switched to a 7.30pm kick-off.
It was originally scheduled for 3pm, but it has been put back to an evening game to avoid an afternoon clash with Oldham Athletic’s National League derby against Altrincham at Boundary Park.
The Oldham-Hornets derby will be the first home game since the new, five-man board of directors took charge.
So far, Roughyeds have won each of their two league games (62-18 v London Skolars at home and 18-4 at North Wales Crusaders) and they also did exceptionally well in the first half at Doncaster, where they led 20-12 at the interval before losing 28-26 in the Challenge Cup.
They played Hornets at the Vestacare in the Law Cup prior to the start of the league programme, regaining the trophy with a hard-fought 18-14 win thanks to late tries by Zac Baker and Joe Hartley.
One of only three teams unbeaten in Betfred League 1 so far, Roughyeds are in third place behind Dewsbury Rams and Doncaster with two games in hand on Dewsbury and one game in hand on Doncaster.
In Colwyn Bay last time out, they scrambled superbly and worked hard on goal-line defence - and scored a crowd-pleasing third try with a left-side shift and a great break by Connor Carr, who put the supporting Logan Astley under the sticks with an inside ball.
It was Oldham’s 14th try in their two league games with 19-year-old Astley, on dual-reg from Wigan Warriors and playing at full-back, finishing well to put his side 18-0 in front.
Roughyeds are hoping for a good crowd on Good Friday evening with Stu Littler’s men chasing their third league win from three in their first home game under the new owners.
