I was never too worried - Naylor

GETTING TO GRIPS: Danny Langtree prepares to be tackled by Thunder’s Evan Simons.

HEAPING praise on his squad for their “great” performance in silencing Newcastle Thunder with a 45-20 win, Scott Naylor said he was never seriously worried about the outcome - even when the visitors pegged Oldham back to 28-20.

Roughyeds went in at half time 28-8 ahead, but Stanley Gene’s Thunder still had the advantage of slope and wind to come. They threw everything at Roughyeds after half-time and quickly scored converted tries by Jason Payne and Dayne Craig to put themselves back in the game.

Said Naylor: “We spoke at half-time about Thunder giving us everything with wind and slope in their favour. A team as good as they are will always get a spell in the ascendancy sooner or later. You have to ride it and come out the other side conceding as few points as possible.

“They got closer than we would have liked, but I always knew our fitness and our spirit would stand up to the test.

“Newcastle are a very good team and I expect them to finish in the top three or thereabouts. But we kicked-on after they had scored two tries early in the second half and our reply was to finish off with 17 unanswered points in the last few minutes.”