Benson warns of derby threat

ROUGHYEDS coach Tony Benson has warned that his side will be facing a very different Rochdale Hornets team to the one which was thrashed 54-4 earlier this season.

The Spotland outfit, deducted nine Co-operative Championship One points for entering into administration, met for a local derby only days after a rescue package was finalised which enabled the newly-formed Hornets RL club to begin signing players.

As a result, Darren Shaw’s men were well short of match fitness and fell to a heavy defeat at Boundary Park back in mid-February.

Things have since looked up, though. Unbeaten Dewsbury were given the most severe of examinations two weeks ago — winning by two points, thanks to a last-minute penalty — and Shaw’s men overcame that disappointment to impress with a Carnegie Challenge Cup fourth round win away at a Graham Holroyd-inspired Swinton Lions.

With players of the calibre of prolific pair Martin Ainscough and Leroy Rivett on board and firing, Benson knows his side will have to be on their mettle at Spotland tomorrow (3pm kick off).

“I have looked at a few of their match DVDs and Rochdale are much improved from back when we played them,” said the Oldham coach.

“They are a very good, competitive team.

“You can see that simply by looking at the results that they have had. Against Dewsbury they were very unlucky not to win and they followed that up by going to play Swinton at Sedgley Park and winning, which isn’t an easy thing to do.

“They have good go-forward, run aggressively and slow teams right up in defence.

“It will be a very difficult game for us.”

Record-busting winger Andy Ballard will nonetheless fancy his chances of continuing to build towards an all-time high Oldham RL points tally in a season.

The 22-year-old former Salford flyer has so far racked up 134 points from eight appearances and looks set, provided he stays fit, to pose a real threat to all-time great Bernard Ganley’s mark of 412, set back in 1958.

Ballard’s 10 tries for the season mean he has also touched down more than any other Roughyeds player so far, with Coyle brothers Thomas and James and Lucas Onyango on six each.

While Oldham have an easier Easter weekend than most, Hornets are facing up to two matches inside the space of four days.

After tomorrow, their thoughts will turn to an away fixture at York City Knights on Easter Monday.

The Roughyeds, however, have plenty of time to refocus with their next fixture not coming until Dewsbury visit Boundary Park in a crunch game on Sunday, April 19.

“It is great for us to have a week to get ready for that game as the quick turnarounds are pretty tough,” Benson added.