Operation date for skipper Owen

GARETH OWEN

GARETH Owen goes under the knife next Tuesday after which he starts on the long road to recovery.

The Oldham captain suffered a nasty foot injury against Dewsbury Ram on June 21 which capped a miserable day for the club.

The loss of the half-back came after Danny Grimshaw (hamstring) and Scott Turner (concussion) had been forced to leave the field. To add insult to injury, the Roughyeds went down to a 20-16 defeat, after leading with five minutes to go.

Owen's injury is three-fold - a fractured metatarsal, bleeding on the bone and damage to the Lisfranc ligament - and requires an operation to fix it.

WAITING

Recovery time is until January at least, by which stage Oldham players will be stepping up their efforts in pre-season.

Richard Lepori, meanwhile, is waiting to have a CT scan on his ankle. He is also facing an operation.

Adam Neal (broken jaw) remains on course to return in a couple of weeks when the Roughyeds will be in the thick of the Kingstone Press Championship Shield.

Second-bottom Oldham kick-off the seven-match series away at Sheffield Eagles on Sunday. Preview in tomorrow's Chronicle.