Appeal to stay-away fans

SCOTT Naylor and Lee Spencer have made an impassioned plea to the town’s rugby league followers to get behind the Oldham team in their three remaining home games — and then the play-offs.

Only 516 fans were at Whitebank to watch Naylor’s young side trounce Gloucester All Golds 46-6 to pick up their fourth win in a row and to extend their unbeaten home record this season to seven games. “We feel for the lads,” said

assistant coach Spencer. “They’re working their socks off, winning matches, scoring lots of points and playing some great rugby.

“Attendances have been much the same all season and, to be frank, they are very disappointing.

“The fans who come regularly are brilliant — vocal and always supportive. But we need a lot more and the club needs a lot more.

“More importantly, we believe our record on the field is deserving of more people in a town like Oldham. We are not asking them to come and watch dross.

“I’m confident that if people who haven’t seen us this year come down and have a look they will like what they see.

“When I was in the amateur game and we came up to Oldham we’d get 300 at St Anne’s, Saddleworth or Waterhead and now we can only pull in 500 at the town’s professional club. It’s bitterly disappointing.”

Placed second in the table, they go to leaders York next Sunday and then take on third-placed Hunslet at Whitebank on the following Sunday, July 27 (3pm).

Head coach Naylor said: “This is a crucial period for the club and it would be a huge help if we could pull in two or three hundred more for the Hunslet game.

“Hunslet will bring a few so we could be getting up towards four figures if we could attract the number of Oldhamers who we honestly believe we deserve to pull in, given our results and performances.

“Normally when a team wins matches like we have been doing the fans start rolling up, but it hasn’t happened at Whitebank and its a concern.”

Hooker Kenny Hughes left the club on crutches after damaging an ankle in the closing stages of the Gloucester game.

Naylor explained: “We’ll know more about the severity of the injury tomorrow. It’s easy to fear the worst with this type of injury, but let’s see what happens in the next 48 hours and see what medical reports tell us before we jump to conclusions.”