Oldham hooker put on report

THE gloss was taken off John Clough’s Championship One player-of-the-month award when the Oldham hooker was put on report following an incident after the final hooter in the Good Friday derby defeat at Rochdale.

In view of the pending inquiry by the RFL’s match review panel, Roughyeds are making no comment about the incident in which Hornets forward Adam Bowman ended up in a perimeter hoarding.

A key man in coach Tony Benson’s plans for the season, and one of five team leaders, Clough, the 27-year-old former Salford and Blackpool hooker, should know later this week whether the sport’s disciplinary body feels he has a case to answer.

If they think he has, and he is charged, any hearing would take place next week, leaving Clough free to play in Sunday’s fourth-round Carnegie Challenge Cup tie against Barrow Raiders at Whitebank (3pm kick-off).

Three players who picked up knocks at Spotland, including influential stand-off Neil Roden, will be assessed at training tonight.

Roden has a back complaint, Paul Smith, suffered blurred vision after a knock to the head, and David Cookson will also need to prove his fitness before coach Tony Benson names his squad for Sunday.

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