Naylor seeks instant reaction

Josh Crowley will be out to impress again in Sunday’s Challenge Cup tie against Hunslet.

WIN or lose at Hunslet on Sunday, Scott Naylor is looking to his young Oldham RL side to play with pride and passion in the wake of last week’s league defeat by Rochdale.

“I want a response — and a big one,” said the Roughyeds’ coach, who regards this Tetley’s Challenge Cup third-round tie at the South Leeds Stadium (3pm) as an opportunity for his players to regain their self esteem against opponents from a higher division.

With two crucial Kingstone Press Championship One games coming up this month against new clubs Gloucester and Oxford, Roughyeds will need to show what they are made of at Hunslet, irrespective of the result.

For the fifth game in a row, players on dual registration will be conspicuous by their absence as Naylor pins his faith in his own boys.

“I don’t know what they’ll be doing with their dual reg players — that’s between them and Leeds Rhinos — and I’m not wasting time trying to second guess.

“We are going as we are and I want the way we play to be a positive reaction to last week’s loss.

“We have to turn up, give 100 per cent, play well and see where it takes us.”

Naylor will select from 20 — the 17 who played last week plus Neil Roden, Danny Samuel and Liam Gilchrist, who was ruled out of the Rochdale game by a calf muscle injury.

He trained normally last night, but everything hinges now on whether he suffers any reaction.

Young second-row men Josh Crowley and Danny Langtree, in good early-season form, will be out to impress against Championship opponents with Langtree hoping to extend his try-scoring run to four games in a row, having notched up 2-1-1 against Gateshead, South Wales and Rochdale.