MARTYN Ridyard’s two goals at Hunslet last Sunday gave him 63 league goals for the season so far and elevated him to top spot in the list of Betfred League One marksmen before today’s (Sunday) games are taken into account.
They include matches for Workington, Dewsbury and Doncaster, which could alter the placings, but as of now, Martyn is League One’s No 1.
The Oldham captain and the man charged with carrying out on the field coach Stu Littler’s instructions from the dug-out, has three more goals than the joint-second pair who each have 60, namely Paul Sykes of Dewsbury Rams and Ciaran Walker of Workington Town.
Connor Robinson of Doncaster is fourth with 57 and Brad Billsborough of North Wales Crusaders is fifth with 51.
It will all change today with Workington at Cornwall; Dewsbury Rams at home to North Wales Crusaders; Doncaster at home to Midlands Hurricanes and Rochdale Hornets playing London Skolars at the Crown Oil Arena.
As of now, though, our Martyn is top of the pile in League One and sixth overall across all three divisions with only Stefan Ratchford (66) and Oldham-born Marc Sneyd of Salford Red Devils (65) ahead of him in Super League and three more ahead of him in the Championship – Dec Patton of Bradford Bulls (74), Jake Shorrocks of Toulouse Olympique (74) and Cory Aston of Sheffield Eagles (69).
The same League One famous five are out in front in that division in relation to points scored, but Ridy is down to third on points, having scored only two tries and one drop goal in addition to his 63 goals off the tee, many of them from the touchline or very near it.
In the list of leading Betfred League One try scorers Patrick Ah Van is third with 13 behind Owen Restall of Dewsbury Rams and Sam Smeaton of Doncaster, each with 14.
Oldham eyes will be very much on today’s games in League One, particularly the Cornwall v Workington clash, given that Town will go above Oldham into fourth place if they win in Penryn after a trip that takes them virtually the full length of England from northern Cumbria to southern Cornwall.
Sponsors’ Breakfast
Mike Ford, meanwhile, has described next Friday morning’s Sponsors’ Breakfast at Boundary Park as a “very important” event in the Roughyeds story, moving forward. The event starts at 8.30am and will run for about three hours
Full details of the event are available to download, including details about how to let the club know you are going. An open invitation goes out to anyone who thinks they might help with sponsorship in 2024, but it will be advisable all round if you let Leanne Corkery know in advance.
Leanne, employed full time by Roughyeds chairman Bill Quinn on commercial matters, is operating part time for the club in a similar role and this will be her first big event.
Potential sponsors will be given a presentation about the club and its sponsorship packages, offered breakfast, shown images of next seasdon’s kit and given a tour of the facilities in the new Joe Royle stand at Boundary Park where Oldham will play home games next season thanks to an agreement with Frank Rothwell, the new owner of Athletic, and his new board.
A new £1M state-of-the-art pitch has been installed by Oldham Council and Roughyeds say they are indebted to Oldham Council and Oldham Athletic for their co-operation and goodwill in the talks to see it happen.
Frank Rothwell and his wife were chief guests of Oldham RLFC at a recent home game at the Vestacare Stadium and are known to be keen to see Boundary Park as the nerve centre of Oldham sport in years to come.
On visiting Roughyeds to see them play, Frank took the opportunity to welcome Rugby fans to Boundary Park next season and to say how much he was looking forward to seeing Oldham Rugby stepping out on to the new pitch.
