Hornets come for derby clash on top of the world

DERBY rivals Rochdale Hornets come to town on Sunday in the AB Sundecks 1895 Cup. They are on top of the world — and of League One — after their terrific 44-0 home win against Keighley Cougars last week and they come here, having just announced 'Project 1500', a radical blueprint which targets significantly bigger crowds this year at the Crown Oil Arena.

This is relevant because it shows they are (a) a club on the up (b) Oldham will need to be on their game to move a step nearer to Wembley and (c) this could be a REAL derby-day humdinger in keeping with the 16-14 Oldham triumph in the pre-season Law Cup clash at Boundary Park in January.

It is interesting that Hornets have an eye on the size of crowds because Oldham have too. Roughyeds may be at a different level, but they are also trying to build crowds and to develop relations with the local amateur game just as Hornets are doing something similar with Mayfield kids and their parents.

It could be argued that Andy Mazey is taking a leaf out of Bill Quinn and Mike Ford's book, but does it really matter if it's the right way to go, as it clearly is.

It will certainly add more needle to this latest derby clash between the old enemy. The M627 derby might not attract the crowds of, say, Hull FC v Hull KR, Wigan v Saints, or Leeds v Wakefield, but passions among the fans run just as deeply and bragging rights are just as important to those who will hopefully fill the Joe Royle stand on Sunday, be they wearing red and white or red, white and blue.

Needle is always more apparent when BOTH teams are on a high and Oldham's achievement in taking three Championship points out of a possible four, and thus occupying fourth place in the second tier, coupled with that eight-try Hornets win against Keighley in the League One opener, has guaranteed loads of interest in Sunday's showdown.

Meanwhile, did Josh Drinkwater's decision to take the kicking tee last Sunday when faced with a touchline kick into the teeth of a gale, two points down and with two minutes left, show that he's a great and natural leader or a brilliant goalkicker? A bit of both, probably, but if I had to choose one or the other I would go without hesitation for the former.

Kieran Dixon was clearly struggling on the day to beat the freak conditions. This was a pressure kick and one could imagine that the last thing Dixon wanted right then was the pressure and the responsibility of a touchline conversion into a gale on which the result of the game would hinge.

Up stepped the captain to take the job in hand — and to cause Dixon to breathe a huge sigh of relief, no doubt. Drinkwater looked so nonchalant when taking the kick that either he's got nerves of steel or, as captain and NOT the No 1 goalkicker, he didn't feel the pressure of failure.

This MUST have weighed heavily on Dixon's mind — only seven days after he had hit nine from nine v York — but Drinkwater gave the impression he had no such worries. You could easily have concluded he didn't give a fig. I'm sure he did, but there's a difference between wanting something and being so wound-up that you don't give yourself a chance

Drinkwater just teed the ball up and fired. Full marks. The ball passed through the swaying posts, Oldham got the draw — and Drinkwater got the glory.

It could easily have all gone pear-shaped, but my belief was that the Aussie felt he had nothing to lose; that, if nothing else, he was doing what any good captain would have done and that was to look after a team mate who clearly needed assistance at a crucial time in the match.

For the record, Drinkwater was in charge because of the absence through injury of club captain Jordan Turner and his No 2, Matty Wildie.

As for the game, I don't believe Bulldogs would have gone home over the hill with a point had they not had the benefit of that freakish gale. Having said that, full marks to Batley's Josh Woods whose kicking caused Oldham serious problems all afternoon. Woods read the situation perfectly, played the conditions superbly, and kicked with the aplomb of a thinker and a player who knew what he wanted and how to get it.

OLDHAM CAN BEAT HORNETS WITH A FEW POINTS TO SPARE, BUT THEY'LL HAVE TO PLAY BETTER THAN THEY DID AGAINST BATLEY AND THEY'LL HAVE TO KEEP AN EYE OPEN FOR HALF-BACK LEWIS ELSE, A PLAYER WHO CAN FRIGHTEN ANY SIDE GIVEN HALF A CHANCE.