Winger’s sights on Crusaders

ADAM Clay plans to shoot down his former club in Sunday’s iPro Sport Cup semi-final at Whitebank (3pm).

He has made a blistering start to the season with seven tries in four games on Oldham’s right wing and now his sights are firmly fixed on North Wales Crusaders, for whom he played 11 games in the early part of last season.

Crusaders’ loss was Oldham’s gain when the 24-year-old ex-Barrow man left the Welshmen and ultimately found his way to Whitebank.

“A big part of my job on the wing is to score tries,” said Clay, whose dozen for Barrow in the Championship season of 2013 made him the Raiders’ top scorer that year.

“I’m happy with the way things are going this season, but I’ll be a whole lot happier if we win this semi-final, especially if I can extend my try-scoring sequence to five games.”

Crusaders also boast a big, in-form winger in Welsh international Rob Massam, who scored four tries against Doncaster last week. He may switch wings, from right to left, to counter the threat of danger-man Clay.

Neither Roughyeds coach Scott Naylor nor his Crusaders counterpart Anthony Murray is giving anything away on team selection, though Oldham may have to go into the big game without Jon Ford to comply with semi-final rules relating to signing deadlines.

Michael Ward is back in the reckoning after being knocked out at Barrow in the last round, but Naylor won’t name his side until tomorrow at training.