Highton in supporter admission

PAUL HIGHTON

Resolute prop shares fan pain over defeats

PAUL Highton admits he understands the frustrations of supporters following Oldham’s latest defeat.

The former Salford prop forward, standing in as captain for the currently injured Robert Roberts in the 20-18 loss away at York last week, is convinced the current playing squad is the strongest the club has assembled in years.

While he admits they have yet to really shine, suffering three defeats in Co-operative Championship One which leaves the club currently trailing in fourth place in the table, Highton is confident the situation will be addressed.

“As players we are as upset as the fans, mainly because we all know just what a good squad of players we have got here,” said Highton.

“The Oldham fans have had a couple of years of almost getting promotion but not quite managing it, so their disappointment is natural.

“The squad we have now is the strongest they have seen in that time and with such high hopes, every defeat is magnified into being something bigger than it is.

“I would never say the fans are out of order — they have every right to be upset.

“What I would say is that every single one of us goes out there to give it everything for Oldham.

“We haven’t clicked yet this season but what we will do now is try to improve in every game compared to the last one.

“Then, if it is to be the play-offs for us, we will be ready and firing.”

The loss at York arrives three weeks after a 32-18 defeat against Featherstone which ended the club’s involvement in the Northern Rail Cup competition.

Had a late Tommy Goulden try been allowed to stand last Thursday, rather than be chalked off by the video referee, then the Roughyeds would now be eight points behind leaders Dewsbury, rather than the current 10, with a game in hand.

As it is, the likeliest route to the Championship now looks like being via a win in a third successive play-off final — quite possibly, against York again.

“It was always going to be a tough task over there as York have come on leaps and bounds,” Highton added.

“Tommy (Goulden) is adamant he got the ball down late in the game and if that call goes our way then we would have won the game and things would look different now.

“We should have come out on top anyway. We had enough of the ball to have won three games, but silly errors and a couple of decisions didn’t help us.

“There are all sorts of things you can blame, but the bottom line is that we have got to learn the lessons from these big games.

“That is two in a row we have crumbled in and we have to take the positives and do better next time.”

o THE RFL have confirmed that the Northern Rail Cup final between Barrow and Widnes will kick off at 5.15pm at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool.

The game takes place after the culmination of the Northern Rail Nines event, featuring Oldham. A 15-man Roughyeds squad is to play matches against Whitehaven, Workington Town and Featherstone Rovers on Saturday, July 11, at Fylde RUFC, with a knockout phase the next day.