THREE of our most experienced players have been in the news this week — Gregg McNally because he is closing in on a fantastic career milestone; Martyn Ridyard because of his superlative individual performance in our last home game against Dewsbury; and Patrick Ah Van, another top performer this season, who is also approaching another career milestone.
Facts, figured and comment on the achievements of the big three emerged only two days before Saturday’s big clash with Hunslet at the Vestacare Stadium, which kicks off at 3pm. Roughyeds wish to remind fans of the Saturday fixture, and the 3pm start, and apologise once more for any confusion or inconvenience caused by their efforts to avoid a clash with the all-Manchester FA Cup Final. In the end, a clash could not be avoided, but the club wishes to point out again that they had sought various other options, all of which failed to materialise due to factors beyond their control.
Now for the stories involving McNally, Ridyard and Ah Van — and what the Hunslet game will mean to them.
Full-back McNally needs only one appearance to reach 300 in his long and distinguished career. The classy Cumbrian, still a force to be reckoned with, has played 18 games for Oldham in two spells here, on dual-reg from Huddersfield Giants way back in 2010 and now as a fully-fledged Roughyed, for whom he is playing in the same Oldham team as his best pal of many years, the mercurial Ridyard, or Riddy as he is best known.
It has often been said that one of the attractions in Gregg’s return to Oldham this year was the opportunity it provided for him to link up again with Riddy, with whom he played for a long time at Leigh Centurions earlier in his career.
He has also played 21 games for Rochdale Hornets; 50 for home-town Whitehaven; 176 for Leigh; 13 for Bradford Bulls; one for Huddersfield Giants; eight for Barrow Raiders on loan; and 12 for Ireland at international level, producing a total of 299.
It means he will possibly reach this mighty milestone on Saturday, so we will have something for which to congratulate him even before a ball is kicked or passed.
Now to Riddy, who was featured in a League Express article this week. Writing under the headline: ‘Old Heads Lead The Way’ Doug Thompson looked at two teams firmly in the race for League One honours and spotlighted the key roles of Riddy for Oldham and Paul Sykes for Dewsbury.
He wrote:
“These two clubs are pushing for a return to the Championship while attempting to bolster their chances of getting an IMG grading as high as possible as the game enters another new era.
““Having set the pace, leaders Dewsbury dropped their first point of the season in their ninth outing when they were held 26-26 at Oldham, who remained third.
“Ridyard landed a last-gasp penalty goal after Sykes slotted a fifth two-pointer from as many attempts to edge the Rams ahead with three minutes remaining.”
Later in the article, he quoted Dewsbury boss Liam Finn as saying this:
“I thought Martyn was outstanding all the game and man of the match. He showed all his experience and class. Overall, we were lucky to get away with a point. Oldham were good for the bulk of the game. And we were up against it. I think we got away with one.”
Now to Ah Van, who is making a massive impact be he on the wing or in the forwards. He needs eight points to reach 1,000 in his career — another major milestone and one he will be hoping to achieve on Saturday.
Our golden oldies are a magnificent example to the rest. Long may it continue!
