Gilchrist to fill in for Luke

LIAM Gilchrist looks set to replace Luke Sutton in the Oldham RL squad to face South Wales Scorpions at Whitebank on Sunday (3pm).

As the Roughyeds are unlikely to be at home in the play-offs, this will probably be their last appearance of the season at Whitebank before their final league game at Workington on September 4.

By the time the South Wales game gets under way, Sutton will be half-way to Australia with his wife and five daughters to start a new life in Brisbane.

"I couldn't have wished for a better send-off than to make my final Oldham appearance in such a rousing derby win at Rochdale," he said.

Gilchrist, an ex-St Helens prop, is not going to Whitehaven on Saturday (2.30pm) with the reserves - a broad hint that he will be training instead with Tony Benson's senior squad as Sutton's successor.

Both squads train tonight when reserve team boss John Hough will run fitness checks on David Cookson (shoulder), Paul Brearley (elbow) and Alex Eyres (ankle).

They are expected to be given the all-clear, in which case Hough will travel to Cumbria with last week's squad, minus Gilchrist but with the addition of Lewis Brookes, Zac Cotton and Eyres.

Reserves (from): Nield, Chetwynd, Brearley, Fogarty, Bridge, Connick, Dallimore, Langtree, Hughes, Dean, Knight, Thomson, Cookson, Wood-Hulme, Eyres, Joy, Barber, Brookes, Cotton.

They might be joined by Bruce Johnson, out for two months with a hand injury, but he has still to be given the all-clear.

Win, lose or draw Hough's side will finish second in the league behind Widnes Vikings.

"That doesn't mean we've nothing to play for," he said. "On the contrary, we want to go into the play-offs boasting an 11-game unbeaten run.

"Also, it's important we do the right things at the right time in the right areas, so that we can take that with us into our play-off at Widnes."

The Junction Inn, Ripponden Road, is providing free transport on Sunday from that side of town to Whitebank for the Oldham-South Wales game. To book, ring (0161) 633 2759.