Support is crucial - Naylor

NAYLOR: pondering his options for the final home game of the season

TURN out and cheer us on to promotion say Oldham Rugby’'s coaches and players ahead of Sunday's final home game of the regular season against Gloucester All Golds (3pm).

A young Roughyeds squad – five points clear at the top of Championship One – has won 11 of its last 13 league games and on Sunday will be going for its eighth win in a row.

Said coach Scott Naylor (pictured): "We knew we had to play a brand of rugby people would want to watch, and it looks like a lot of fans are starting to come back.

"There are definite signs that the Oldham public is responding to what we are doing. It's just a pity we have only one home game left."

Last time Oldham played at home, the crowd of 1,209 that watched Naylor's men beat title rivals North Wales Crusaders 28-10 was the biggest at Whitebank in three years.

Since the club moved into Whitebank in 2010 there has only been one bigger attendance and that was 1,275 for a play-off win against York at the end of that season.

This latest 1,200-plus attendance was a season's-best for all clubs in Championship One and, on the day, it was better than six out of seven Championship matches.

Added Naylor: "Crusaders brought about 200, so a thousand Oldham fans turned out. That's all it takes to provide a fantastic atmosphere at Whitebank, especially when the boys are playing well.

"It will be terrific if the fans turn up in similar numbers on Sunday to give us the backing the boys deserve.”



OLDHAM-born Phil Cowburn is likely to play full-back for Gloucester All Golds on Sunday.

The 22-year-old student, who was raised in Royton, has been an Oldham fan since he was a boy.

Cowburn's father George, who lives in Thornham, is still a Whitebank regular.

In his junior school days Phil was a Roughyeds' ball boy; an active

member of the Junior Roughyeds; and club

mascot for the day in the Northern Ford Premiership final of 2001 against Widnes Vikings.

A dozen years on, he was Gloucester's full-back when Oldham beat them 36-0 in Cheltenham last April.