Injury concerns for Oldham

ROUGHYEDS coach Tony Benson has a number of injuries to deal with for the trip to Whitehaven tomorrow night.

Kashley Watkins fractured a wrist in the 54-16 defeat to Batley on Sunday and is now in plaster, while Gary Sykes needs a scan to find out if he has sustained an identical problem.

Also absent from the Roughyeds squad for ex-Oldham Bears forward Howard Hill’s testimonial game at the Recreation Ground are Lucas Onyango, whose twisted ankle won’t be risked, Dave Ellison (work commitments), Ben Marsden (shoulder), Ben Mellor (work) and Joe Chandler (toe). Ben Heaton (mild concussion) will be assessed today and may also miss out.

Scott Mansfield, Danny Whitmore, Craig Robinson and Paul Reilly will come in, but Benson admits it isn’t an ideal situation, especially with the Law Cup game against Hornets RL coming at Spotland on Sunday.

“Our best-laid plans have been affected,” said the Oldham coach.

“I was hoping we could avoid playing people both tomorrow and Sunday but it looks now that some players may have to double up.

“In that case, we just have to be careful not to give them too much game-time.

“We had a good training session last night and rectified a few things and did some one-on-one sessions.

“We are definitely much better for the Batley game.

“Some players showed what they are capable of and others have work to do, so these are interesting times.”

The original game against Whitehaven was due to take place on Sunday, January 10, but was postponed due to a frozen pitch. At present, there are no worries over the state of the playing surface for tomorrow’s match.