Fourth in the Championship – and that’s got to be a sign-post to a bright future

IT is only natural for fans to be bitterly disappointed by that heavy defeat by Featherstone in the semi-final of the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup --our third heavy defeat in four meetings, with Doncaster away the winning exception. Featherstone in the cup and Toulouse and Bradford in the league all gave us the once-over at Boundary Park and no one expects supporters to be happy by that, injuries or no injuries.

Let's look at the bigger picture, however. Discounting results last Friday and Saturday, Oldham went into the home game against Kyle Eastmond's Halifax last Sunday n sixth place with 12 points from ten games — three more than seventh-placed Widnes and only two behind leaders Toulouse.

Our 34-10 win against Fax proved beyond doubt that we can hold our own at the very least in the Championship where we now sit in fourth place, or even joint third with Halifax if 'for' and 'against' figures are taken into account, That's brill for a side that's just come up to this level.

Only four points separate York in the sixth and final playoff spot and Toulouse at the top. Bradford and Brian Noble , currently second, will have their own agenda, but my view is that the men from the south of France will be favourites to finish at the top of the pile, with Sean Long's men also finishing in the top six if they continue to play with the verve, skill and self-believe they produced against Halifax which, it has to be said, was in direct contrast to the poor performance in the Wembley showdown.

Featherstone played really well and fully deserved to further delay Oldham's day out at Wembley, but that setback should not devalue the remarkable progress made by the club on and off the field in the two years since the new regime took over.

To be fourth in the Championship at this stage is truly epic and that should not be under-valued or placed second to the Wembley setback, disappointing though it was. It is fair, however, to deduce certain things from the fact that Oldham are one of several clubs in the running to do well in the second tier.

So what can we deduce from this? To start with, the fact that clubs in the top six are so close to each other, in terms of points gained, shows that every try is important; every try-saving tackle, too; and that anybody can beat anybody in this most competitive of the three divisions, Super League, the Championship and League One.

Oldham have played each of the other five once in the league and they are currently well positioned when compared with the likes of Widnes, Featherstone, Sheffield and Batley, established Championship sides all.

Despite those crippling injuries, we are in the top six play-off zone in the Championship. Ok, so we had a chance of going to Wembley for the first time and we blew it, but several longstanding Championship clubs would give anything right now to be where we are --and that's merely to consider what's going on regarding the team, performances and results.

Talking of Wembley it would be remiss of us not to congratulate Oldham Athletic AFC on beating York away to reach Wembley on Sunday when they play Southend for the right to return to the Football League in Division Two.

Never has our association with the Latics been better and proof of that lies in the realistic hope that our club might become a third party stakeholder in the magnificent Sports-Town scheme, together with Latics and Oldham Council.

Roughyeds already have a ten-year lease to play at Boundary Park, but ten years will be here before Mike Ford is 70 – some of us even remember the mark in Rugby League and kicking duels between the fullbacks — and it's a measure of our relationship with the Rothwells and with Darren Royle that Bill Quinn and Mike Ford were heavily involved when the ambitious and hugely expensive Sports-Town project was first made public by Latics.

Bill has made it clear that he would love to see our club as third -party stakeholders in the scheme rather than mere tenants and business partners who could be asked to leave in ten years and it says much about our links with Frank and Darren that talks are ongoing with that in mind.

Before it happens a lot of water has to pass under the bridge, but in the meantime we wish Latics all the best and although we might be just a little bit envious of their Wembley visit (human nature) it goes without saying that we wish our fellow Oldhamers every success on their big day in the spotlight. Sock it to 'em, Latics, and we are sure that those sentiments go out to Latics from every sports club in the town but especially from Roughyeds, who already have a unique bond with the football club.

One hopes this is not a repetition of 1990 because back then Latics made it Wembley, but lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest, while Roughyeds felt they got a raw deal in their 10-6 defeat by Warrington in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Central Park. This year, Latics are through, while the rugby boys came unstuck in their semi-final against Featherstone Rovers. We don't want history to repeat itself with a 1-0 win to Southend but heartiest congrats to Latics on getting there --- further proof of what sport can do for a town like ours.

Back in 1990, the BBC no less sent a reporter and a camera team into the offices of the Oldham Evening Chronicle, where I then worked, to find out what it was like in Oldham when two teams bearing that name were each only one game from Wembley. Latics got there, we didn't, but if ever the national media woke up to a town's sporting achievements this was it. It's happened before; it can happen again,

Some towns near here have either a rugby league team or a soccer team, not both (Leigh, St Helens, Warrington, Bury, Blackburn and Stockport are examples) and that can be advantageous or disadvantageous in 'Sports-Town' talks, depending on your point of view.

Most major decisions these days involve money and/or its availability -- and to become a third party stakeholder in 'Sport-Town' with Oldham Athletic and Oldham Council will involve BIG bucks, really BIG bucks.

As Bill says, negotiations are in the early stages, but wasn't it encouraging to hear that if, for whatever reason, The Roughyeds have to change direction, he will speak to investors with a view to building another stadium in Oldham

And finally, congrats, too, to the new boys, who did so well in that morale-lifting win at home to Halifax . . . men like two-try centre Ben Davies, whose tries both took a lot of scoring; like French pair Mathieu Pons on the left wing and Eloi Pelissier, who came off the bench at hooker; like Ryan Lannon in the second-row; like Zane Musgrove, from Warrington, a play-anywhere forward, who also came off the bench.

I particularly liked man-of-the-match Pons, he of the widest grin in France and England put together. He and Lannon also scored and it was Samoan international Musgrove whose brilliant offload near the line sent in Matty Ashurst late on.

Pelissier also contributed much from dummy half, but of the two French aces, I most liked the look of Pons, who was safe under the high ball and looked all the world like a cross between Jumah Sambou and Mo Agoro. He was strong, like Agoro, fast, like Agoro, but a few years younger. His ability to make ground reminded me of KR-bound Sambou. His try was a gem that took some scoring and when he turned and caught his opposite winger in the second half you could have thought it was Agoro.

Whether I would have given him man of the match with Josh Drinkwater in brilliant form is open to conjecture, but the man from St Gaudens certainly looked the part, as did Davies, Lannon , Pelissier and Musgrove.

It was a good day for Oldham and an even better one for the new boys on a day when a star was born, Mathieu Pons, and the Roughyeds returned to JOINT THIRD in the Championship.

As for the return of Danny Craven at stand-off and the switch of Riley Dean to centre, it worked a treat — just like the fans thought it would.