Naylor: we have to go for promotion

NO LOOKING BACK . . . Scott Naylor insists he will not dwell on last season’s disappointment as Oldham go into the new campaign with high hopes.

LAST September’s play-offs disappointment will finally be wiped from Scott Naylor’s memory once the new season gets underway in Maesteg on Sunday.

Oldham coach Naylor’s young squad performed heroics in reaching 2013’s last-day promotion decider against Rochdale, only to lose 32-18.

Now South Wales Scorpions await in the 2014 opener - and it’s purely the future, and the one promotion spot up for grabs, on which Naylor is concentrating.

He said: “The big problem is you’ve got to wait four or five months before you can play again. When you’re beaten in a game like that it’s sometimes best to get straight back on the field.

“So it has been a long wait for me and the lads - and the fans, of course.”

“Players are very resilient people. They get on with it, and certainly our lads are fully focused on this season now. If we get that promotion this season, all the previous grand final defeats will be completely forgotten.

“That’s the way you have to look at the situation – or at least that’s how I approach it.”

Naylor has recruited well during the off-season, with Danny Whitmore, Ben Wood, Brett Robinson, Paddy Mooney, Alex Davidson and George Tyson linking up, and Adam Files signing a permanent deal after last year’s season on loan from Salford.

They will supplement an already-strong squad which will undoubtedly have benefitted from 2013’s largely-successful experiences.

Naylor added: “After the season we had last year, we’ve just got to be looking at securing promotion this time.

“We’ve been lucky to keep roughly 90 per cent of last year’s squad together, and pre-season has been a much smoother, enjoyable transition this year.

“Everything has gone to plan, we’ve produced some good stuff in our warm-up games, so now it’s just about fine-tuning ahead of the weekend.