Naylor’s food for thought

FIRST-TEAM trio David Cookson, Mark Hobson and Steven Nield did all that was asked of them when playing for Oldham RL under-20s at Sheffield.

All three will now be pushing for spots in the senior side against Tony Benson’s new-look Oxford outfit at Whitebank on Sunday afternoon.

With no first-team game at the weekend, coach Scott Naylor wanted loose-forward Hobson to play in the under-20s in order to improve his fitness.

Cookson was out for six weeks with groin trouble before returning to the side that lost at Hunslet on Good Friday and it was felt he needed another game to make up for lost time.

Nield, who is on the periphery of senior selection, will be hoping he did enough to earn another first-team chance in the Oxford game.

Speaking of their performances in an 18-12 defeat at Sheffield, under-20s coach Neil Roden said: “Hobson played the full 80 minutes, so that's bound to do him good. The two centres (Nield and Cookson) also did okay, but we didn’t get as much ball as we would have liked and we had a lot of defending to do which took its toll in the second half.

“We’re improving gradually, but we will all feel better once we’ve got our first win in the bag.”

It was 6-6 at half-time, but Eagles scored two second-half tries to Oldham’s one to wrap up the game.