Benson wary of Thunder threat

BACK IN THE FOLD: The return of Gregg McNally on loan has added more strength to the Oldham half-backs.

ROUGHYEDS, buoyed by the on-loan signing of young Huddersfield Giants star Gregg McNally, come out of mid-season hibernation on Sunday when they travel to Gateshead for their first game in 21 days.

The club and their supporters were on a high this week when 19-year-old half-back star McNally rejoined Roughyeds for his second loan spell, this time until the end of the season.

And Oldham coach Tony Benson has spoken of his embarrassment of riches provided by Neil Roden, Matty Ashe and the Giants ace, whom he lauded as “three of the best half-backs in Championship One”.

Benson must now pick two from three for the trip to Tyneside.

The Roughyeds haven’t played since they beat Doncaster 28-18 at Whitebank on June 13 — and when they had a similar break earlier in the season it took them a match or two to regain their best form.

In an attempt to give his squad match practice, Benson put his players through a full session against the reserve team on Tuesday night.

He said: “The reserves gave us a real test, as always, and it was certainly beneficial after so long without a game.

“It’s always difficult to pick up where you left off after such a long break. Players are refreshed and that’s the up side, but the down side is that they can easily forget the little things that can make a big difference to overall performance.

“I think we are better off than we were the last time we were in a similar situation and that tells me that a lot of things are now becoming ingrained, which is good.

“We’ve had a tough week, getting back on track, and we certainly won’t be taking Gateshead lightly just because of their low position in the division.

“They have skill and pace and they usually have good spells within a game. The challenge we face is to make sure that our good spells are longer than theirs.

“We are confident we will do that, but we need to find our feet as quickly as we can after so long without a game.”

Roughyeds have seven games left against Swinton Lions, South Wales Scorpions and derby rivals Hornets at Whitebank, while they face trips to Gateshead, Blackpool, York and London Skolars.

The ultimate aim is to finish top, gain automatic promotion and pick up a £50,000 winner-takes-all cheque in prize money.