Clarke injury rocks Oldham

CHRIS CLARKE... the forward is facing three months on the sidelines.

CHRIS Clarke, the hard-working Oldham Roughyeds forward, is looking at a three-month lay-off due to injury.

The 22-year-old has been back to see a consultant on the dislocated and broken thumb he picked up in the recent 18-16 defeat at Swinton and is now waiting for a scan which will detail the exact damage suffered.

It is almost inevitable that an operation will be required, the effect of which would be to rule Clarke out of all action up until the Co-operative Championship One play-offs are well under way.

Winger Lucas Onyango is making steady progress in recovering from his ruptured Achilles tendon and is wearing a blow-up cast around the injury. He is still a long way from returning to action, though.

On the positive side, Luke Sutton’s tweaked knee picked up in the 35-18 win over South Wales is not thought to be a serious concern.

And reserve outings for new prop forward signing Bruce Johnson and winger John Gillam at Halifax last week bode well for their possible involvement in Oldham’s next league fixture, which is at Gateshead on Sunday week.

Roughyeds chairman Chris Hamilton was happy with the efforts made by 514 supporters to attend the South Wales game despite constant driving rain on a miserable afternoon.

“We have been quite lucky at the Whitebank so far in terms of the weather,” Hamilton said.

“Despite the awful conditions, the support was unwavering and we all take our hats off to those who came along to cheer us on.”