Youth v experience in top-two clash

YOUNGSTERS Jon Ford and Adam Files will be relishing the prospects of crossing the Crusaders try line in Sunday's top-of-the-table clash.

The Salford City Reds pair have already made a habit of scoring against the Wrexham-based Welsh side this season.

Centre Ford (19), and 20-year-old hooker Files both scored when Oldham took a 48-12 Northern Rail Cup pasting in North Wales on the opening day of the season in March.

Roughyeds showed their remarkable improvement over the course of the season by returning to The Racecourse three months later and giving the-then runaway leaders the fright of their lives — scoring 20 against Crusaders’ 22, and coming close to winning in the final kick.

Ford and Files - the F-force - were again among Oldham's try scorers on a day Naylor's side declared itself as a serious challenger for promotion. In the followong five gamnes, Roughyeds have scored a maximum 15 points and grabbed top-spot, thanks to Crusaders having three Sundays without a game.

Not too long ago you couldn't have got a bet on Crusaders lifting the title, but their shock defeat at Hemel has at least opened things up sufficiently to give the youngest squad in the division a sniff.

Unlike Oldham, for whom Naylor has pinned enormous faith in youth and exuberance, Crusaders have built this year's team around experience and nous, coach Clive Griffiths going for much-travelled journeymen like Dave McConnell, Gary Middlehurst, Andy Gorski and 35-year-old Ryan Macdonald.

They also have former Oldham man Jamie Dallimore, who was unsettled and released earlier this season.