Brooks banks on bouncing back

Matt Brookes (right) in action

MATTY BROOKS has every confidence that Oldham will have sufficient firepower to out-gun Doncaster at Boundary Park tonight (7.30pm kick off).

A host of players have been carrying knocks in recent weeks as a hugely testing schedule — including long-distance midweek trips — has taken its toll on coach Steve Deakin’s squad.

But, despite a 32-12 loss at Barrow last Friday, the bruised and battered Roughyeds have a great chance to boost their promotion hopes tonight.

A win by a margin of more than 12 points would see the Roughyeds streak 11 points clear of the Dons.

And as far as Brooks is concerned, prior to such a vital fixture it is a waste of time fretting over injuries.

“What is the point worrying about injuries?” said the former Hull KR half-back or hooker.

“There is nothing you can do about them. We have got to just go with what we have got and I know that the 17 that goes out there will be good enough to win the game.

“I am really looking forward to this one and I know the rest of the boys are as well. If we get the three points it blows it wide open again at the top and puts a bit of a gap between ourselves and Doncaster. It is massive.

“We have seen the video of what they can do. But we think that we can get at them and have got a game plan together to do that.

“Friday night’s game has gone now, it is finished. What we need to do against Doncaster is complete, complete, complete our sets and if we do that I think they will fold in the second half.”

A bumper crowd will be in force tonight, given the heavily publicised free entry to the game, subject to a minimum £1 charity donation.

The Roughyeds will take to the field in a special all-pink kit in order to raise awareness of charities Dr Kershaw’s Hospice and The Genesis Appeal.

And the hope is that a crowd above and beyond the current record National League Two record of 4,327 will attend the game.

“The more fans are in the ground, the better the atmosphere and as a player you can react off that,” added Brooks.

“It does push you on that bit further and hopefully it can help us.”

Doncaster coach, the legendary Ellery Hanley, recently boosted his squad with the addition of young prop forward Chris Lawson, brought in on loan from Huddersfield Giants.

The 20-year-old is set for a debut tonight, with Ash Thackeray, on loan from Hull FC, set for a second run-out for the club at full-back.

However, the club’s plans to replace outgoing French duo Lionel Teixido and Jean Christophe Borlin faltered after it was decided the designated targets hadn’t enjoyed enough recent game time.

Doncaster were thrashed 60-0 by Salford City Reds in the final of the Northern Rail Cup two weeks ago.

But that crushing loss didn’t have much of a lasting impact, as Hanley’s men eased to a 44-16 win at Swinton just three days later.

Centre Zen Luisi ran in a hat-trick and in the absence of injured regular goal kicker Kyle Briggs, former Roughyeds star Gareth Morton knocked over six goals.

That result leaves Doncaster in fifth place in the NL2 table, with three losses from 12 matches played so far.

But their chances of promotion will be hampered by the huge backlog of fixtures they now have, due to success in reaching the NRC final.

Including tonight’s match, the South Yorkshire side have 10 left to play in the next six weeks, ending with a home game against Hunslet on Friday, August 29.

That comes five days after the rest of the NL2 sides have completed their league programmes.