Naylor looks for response

COACH Scott Naylor is hoping his Oldham RL side will learn important lessons from the Gloucester All Golds draw at Whitebank.

With second-placed North Wales Crusaders reducing the deficit to four points after a comprehensive 44-12 defeat of Hemel Stags, it looks more likely that leaders Roughyeds will ultimately face a play-off campaign.

Oldham’s final game of the regular Kingstone Press Championship One season is at Rochdale on Thursday. Captain Lewis Palfrey and Danny Langtree are both likely to return for the Hornets clash after missing yesterday’s match.

Despite the shock result — Oldham led 18-0 at half-time before being pegged back to 24-24 — Naylor is not tempted to tinker with his schedule.

“Nothing changes after this result,” said Naylor. “We always knew we had two games in a relatively short space of time, so the training sessions will stay the same. The team will change obviously.

“The unfortunate thing now is that it is a longshot that we finish top, so it looks as though we are going into the play-offs. Perhaps it is the best thing that could have happened to us. I will look at it that way.

“This is maybe a blessing in disguise. We are hopefully going to go into the play-offs with a higher intensity and more desire and perhaps not with so many collars up and thinking that it just going to happen for us.”