Baines hopeful for Roughyeds lift-off

COMING AT YOU: CHRIS Baines (left) runs towards Dean Cook in Oldham’s 66-10 win at Hunslet.

CHRIS Baines is hoping he can help Oldham blast National League Two wide open this weekend.

With eight games left in the regular season, in-form Roughyeds are currently stationed four points behind joint leaders Barrow and Gateshead.

Craven Park is the setting for a hugely significant first-versus-third clash with the Cumbrians on Friday evening.

Two automatic promotion spots are likely to be available this term and for 23-year-old forward, this is a fixture of huge significance with that equation in mind.

"This could be a make-or-break game for the league as a whole," said Baines, who has played in five of Oldham's last six wins.

"If Barrow get the win, it puts them in a strong position whereas if we win, it is wide open with Gateshead up there as well and Doncaster having the games in hand."

The former Warrington academy man is as aware as anybody that the club's top brass isn't prepared to accept any half-measures following the investment made in the squad this year.

There will certainly be no pondering possible second chances on the bus up to the shipbuilding town.

And as with other matches played out against classy opposition in 2008, Oldham will aim for an explosive start in order to set the tone for the whole of the 80 minutes.

"We have raised our game against the bigger sides this year," Baines admitted, before referring to Barrow's unexpected 15-10 reverse at Hunslet last week.

CAPABLE

"It could have led to our downfall, because the results on Sunday proved again that everybody is capable of beating everybody else on their day in National League Two.

"But this one is a must-win game at the end of the day. It has been stated already that we need to win every game if our aim to gain automatic promotion as champions is to be achieved.

"They slipped up at Hunslet while we scraped an ugly win — but at this stage you just want to get those three points.

"It is going to be very tough, you can't hide from that.

“They have the best defensive record in the league and score quite a few points as well. They have been the form team in the division for a reason.

"We have got a bit of a run together and confidence is high — but we are not overconfident.

"We just have to go one game at a time and this one is effectively a play-off for us."

At this stage last year, Oldham embarked on a run of seven wins from eight matches played, the only defeat coming via a 32-18 home loss to eventual champions Celtic Crusaders.

Though a number of players were brought in to help achieve that run, when the play-offs arrived there was one real star of the show.

Adam Hughes, who will pull on a Barrow shirt on Friday, ran in seven tries in four games in the play-offs, including a storming effort in the Grand Final defeat to Featherstone.

While it isn't a case of stop Hughes and you'll stop Barrow, the Roughyeds coaching staff and players will certainly be mindful of the destruction the centre is capable of meting out.

"I think we have to tire him out, to keep him working in defence so that he is more fatigued going forward," Baines added.

"Having said that, we have centres who can cause teams problems as well.

“And we know we can't just focus on one person as they have got a lot of other good players and are a very strong team as a whole."