Benson wary of Skolars TV Test

TONY Benson predicts that Oldham's high-profile home game against London Skolars will provide a stern test of his new team's credentials.

The Kiwi coach, in charge of the North London side last season, reckons that new incumbent Callum Irving is assembling a useful roster of players as he bids to build on a second-bottom finish in National League Two.

The game at Boundary Park will be broadcast live on Sky Sports on Thursday, August 6.
While it is the third consecutive season the Roughyeds have had the cameras present at a home game, the experience is completely new for the side from the capital — and Benson is sure the Skolars won't lie down to the title favourites without a fight.

"To be honest they are staying under the radar but I think they have really built up this year," he said.

"They went into their training early and have brought good players on board. I think they are quite possibly play-off material.

"And of course, this game will be their equivalent of a Test match."

While the London game takes place near the season's end, a very tough away trip at the Huntington Stadium to face York City Knights six weeks earlier is the other televised fixture in which Oldham will set out to impress a national and international audience.

"I would put York right up there at the very top," added Benson, when asked about the prospects of a team still overseen by player-coach Paul March following their sixth place last season.

"If you look at the way they finished last year they were one of the form sides and they have added to the squad since then. It will be very difficult and we will have to be right on our game."

In terms of the home televised fixtures, Oldham officials have worked hard in recent years to innovate in order to attract big crowds and a similar move is likely again.

The game against Celtic Crusaders in August 2007, which the Welsh side won 32-18, brought in a record crowd of 4,327 to Boundary Park, on the back of an entry set at a minimum £1 charity donation split between Dr Kershaw's Hospice and the RL Benevolent Fund.

Last season, a similar paying arrangement saw the money raised go to both Dr Kershaw's and The Genesis Appeal for research into breast cancer. An all-pink kit brought about plenty of exposure in the media and this time the Roughyeds also managed victory on the pitch, beating Doncaster 36-16 in front of a Boundary Park audience of 2,806.

The Skolars and York games are two of only four in The Co-operative Championship 1 to be currently selected for broadcast.

Live Sky Sports schedule —

March 12: Widnes v Toulouse; March 19: Halifax v Widnes; March 26: Batley v Gateshead; April 9: Sheffield v Doncaster; April 16: Gateshead v Sheffield; April 23: Leigh v Featherstone; April 30: Featherstone v Halifax; May 7: Whitehaven v Widnes; May 14: Leigh v Widnes; May 21: Doncaster v Halifax; May 28: Featherstone v Leigh; June 11: Dewsbury v Keighley; June 25: YORK v OLDHAM; July 2: Barrow v Toulouse; July 16: Whitehaven v Barrow; July 23: Sheffield v Gateshead; July 30: Keighley v Dewsbury; August 6: OLDHAM v LONDON SKOLARS.