Semi-final rivals the full package, warns Oldham coach

jamie dallimore: the former Oldham RL stand-off is a key man in midfield for North Wales Crusaders.

Bookies’ favourites to finish top of League One, North Wales Crusaders will be led by former Great Britain international Stephen Wild in Sunday's iPro Sport Cup semi-final at Whitebank.

Once of Wigan, Huddersfield and Salford, Wild is one of several ‘old heads’ in a Crusaders squad packed with experience and know-how.

While Oldham are forward-looking, with a comparatively young side, the Wrexham-based Welsh outfit has 34-year-old Christiaan Roets in the centre, 33-year-old Stuart Reardon at wing or centre, 31-year-old Gary Middlehurst at loose-forward and Wild (33) in the second-row.

If coach Anthony Murray sticks with the line-up that smashed Championship side Doncaster 40-12 in last Sunday’s Ladbrokes Challenge Cup tie, he will field a formidable back three of 18-stone Jono Smith, Wild and journeyman Middlehurst.

A squad of 28 — six more than Roughyeds — includes former Oldham men Jamie Dallimore, Mark Hobson, Alex Thompson, Paddy Mooney, Alex Davidson and Andrew Joy, younger brother of Oldham’s Phil and twin of Richard, who is also in Scott Naylor’s squad but still awaiting his senior debut.

Stand-off Dallimore, an ever-present since moving to Wrexham from Whitebank in the early part of Naylor’s first season in charge, will be a key man in midfield.

In 2013, Crusaders finished top of Championship One — with two points more than runners-up Oldham — and earned automatic promotion.

The top two were involved in a couple of cracking league games, Crusaders winning 22-20 in Wrexham and Oldham avenging that narrow defeat with a resounding 28-10 win at Whitebank, highlighted by Jon Ford’s hat-trick of tries and others by Kenny Hughes and Mo Agoro.

The attendance of 1,209 — the highest in the division that season — included a large following of Welsh fans.

It was on winning promotion to tier-two that Crusaders shelled out for Wild and in any other year it would have paid dividends because they finished a respectable 11th out of 14, ending the season better off than Rochdale Hornets, Swinton Lions and Barrow Raiders.

They are only back in League One because of the restructuring which sent the bottom five down — and pundits are tipping them to be the outstanding team at that level this season.

Sunday’s semi-final, though, is all about winning through to the Summer Bash at Blackpool on May 23 with a chance to lift a trophy.