L’Anson in at the deep end

NEW signing Jamie I’Anson goes straight into a 20-man Oldham squad for tonight’s Championship 1 clash with Hunslet Hawks at the South Leeds Stadium (8.00pm kick off).

Coach Tony Benson is keeping his proposed line-up under wraps but is happy enough with I’Anson’s fitness and mental preparation to include him in the 20 even though he hasn’t played for six months.

Ian Hodson, who also signed this week, will have to wait a little longer for his first-team call-up, but Benson expects both of them to make significant contributions as the season unfolds.

His squad tonight comprises the 17 who played last week, minus the suspended Mark Brocklehurst but with the addition of Scott Mansfield, Paul Reilly, Craig Littler and I’Anson, who was brought up in Leeds and lives not far from the Hunslet ground.

Oldham (from): Ashe, Bentley, Boults, Chandler, Ellison, Fogerty, Heaton, I’Anson, Kerr, Littler, Mansfield, O’Connor, Onyango, Reilly, Robinson, M Roden, N Roden, Saqib, St Hilaire, Whitmore.

“This will be a big test for us,” said the Oldham boss, “but we are in a positive frame of mind and we go there with confidence.”

The Hawks will give a debut to flying winger Waine Pryce, and player-coach Paul March said he had a fully-fit squad from which to select.

“We are behind schedule,” he added, “but we are moving in the right direction and Pryce will give us an extra cutting edge.”

Hunslet beat the Roughyeds 28-14 at the South Leeds Stadium in a Northern Rail Cup game last month and the sides will clash at the same venue for a third time in the fourth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup in April.