GOING into the Good Friday derby against Rochdale, Roughyeds boss Stuart Littler has warned his men that form will go out of the window.
Rochdale have not had the best of starts to League 1 and are third from bottom after recently being hammered 52-4 by Dewsbury Rams.
The club went on a massive rebuild after reaching the League 1 Preliminary Final in 2022, but Littler has warned that anything can happen in a derby.
“As with derbies, form goes out of the window and we’ve got to manage that,” he said.
“We need to manage our emotions in the game and get our details right. We need to play the game, not the occasion and concentrate on ourselves.”
Roughyeds have two wins so far in League 1 but, going into the win over North Wales, were noticeably rusty having not played for three weeks.
Littler’s men will be looking to get one over on their rivals after three losses to Hornets last year, but he is mindful Rochdale will be desperate to prove a point after their heavy loss against Dewsbury.
“We’ve got to be fully prepared for the best Rochdale Hornets coming,” he said.
“We played Rochdale in pre-season, but we’ll probably throw that one out of the window because there was a lot of chopping and changing in that game and a lot of substitutions with players coming on and off the pitch.
“People didn’t play genuine spells as it was a pre-season game, so I won’t be reading too much into that.
Since the last meeting between the two clubs in League One, several Hornets and Oldham players have switched sides.
Dave Hewitt, who made 128 appearances for Roughyeds, is now at Rochdale while the likes of Gregg McNally — who is ruled out through injury — and Zac Baker are now playing for Oldham.
Good Friday is a bonanza day of rugby league in the town with the Oldham Amateur League Standard Cup Final also taking place.
Waterhead Warriors face off Rochdale Mayfield at Manor Park, the home of Oldham RUFC, at 11:45am before Roughyeds play Hornets at the Vestacare, 7:30pm.
Tickets for the derby are priced at £16 for adults, £10 for concessions, £5 for students, FREE for under-16s and you can purchase them at our ticketing site.
