Injured duo on tight schedule

FITNESS FIGHT: Liam Thompson remains a doubt for Oldham’s opening fixture.

OLDHAM RL pair Lewis Palfrey and Liam Thompson face a race against time to be fit for the 2015 season curtain-raiser against Coventry Bears at Whitebank on Sunday week.

Roughyeds skipper Palfrey is continuing his recovery from hernia surgery, while loose forward Thompson has an injured shoulder.

Head coach Scott Naylor said: “Lewis’s rehabilitation programme is continuing and he hasn’t had any setbacks - but he does need a full week’s training before he would be available for selection.

“That means he would need to train all next week, but right now we’re not sure whether he’ll manage that.

“It’s a similar situation with Liam. He’s a lot stronger than he was a week ago, but whether he’ll be fit and ready in time for the first Coventry game remains to be seen. We’ll keep monitoring both of them.”

Forward Richard Joy will definitely miss the League One Cup clash against the Bears as he continues to recover from a fractured eye socket sustained in the pre-season fixture at Leigh.

Naylor had mixed feelings when asked to reflect on the Roughyeds’ three pre-season warm-up fixtures.

Looking back at the games at Swinton, Leigh and Barrow, Naylor said: “We weren’t that good last weekend at Barrow and that was disappointing (Oldham lost 36-26).

“We had a long talk in training on Tuesday We lost all our three warm-up games, but we could have won them all. It has shown the quality of some of the teams we’re going to be up against.”