Fans will push us through: Long rallies troops for Midlands crunch

Head coach Sean Long has called on Oldham's passionate fan base to push the side through to clinch the title after issuing a positive injury update ahead of the League 1 run-in.

A narrow win in a fiery derby at Rochdale last weekend keeps the Roughyeds three points clear of Keighley at the top with just five games to go. Four of those are at Boundary Park, starting with Midlands Hurricanes on Sunday.

"We've had a really tough couple of weeks," Long told Roughyeds TV this week, admitting that his team "were a little bit flat against Rochdale".

"Our our work ethic was very good, but the Hornets controlled the ruck and got under our skin a little bit. Our calmness got us home."

Long suffered a double blow in the game when young forward Brad Gallagher collapsed on the field and key playmaker Danny Craven was carried off with a knee injury. The boss gave the following update on the stricken pair, along with other seniors stars:

"Brad is good to go this week, it was just a bit of heat exhaustion.

DC hasn't broken his leg but he is in a brace so until we get the scan results back we don't know. We are probably looking at a couple of weeks.

Adam Lawton is good and has been doing quite a bit of running behind the scenes He's back training, as is Ben O'Keefe and also George Hirst and Jumah Sambou. We have a few headaches and it will be a tough gig to select a team - all the lads are getting healthy at the right time.

McKenzie Yei is doing his own programme away from here but is with us Tuesdays and Thursdays for two good training sessions. He's not quite right yet but will be ready soon."

Long predicts a titanic tussle on Sunday against a Midlands side who pushed Oldham all the way in April before a strong second half saw Long's men triumph 44-16.

"Midlands are physical with a really good back five and kicking game. We are going to have to be on point. They are winning games by quite a lot - they have the third highest points difference in the league - and they gave us a tough game at their place so we know this could be a banana skin.

Our fans have been outstanding. When they get behind us the boys really feel that. For the last five games we want everyone behind us as that will push us all the way through."