Play-off clash revenge mission

OLDHAM need no reminding their play-off clash at York pits them against a team that smashed them 54-12 in the league.

That awful July day at the Huntington Stadium, nine weeks after the league leaders were pipped 31-30 at Whitebank, was the season’s lowest point, the worst league let-down in Scott Naylor’s two-year tenure as Roughyeds coach.

He now welcomes the chance on Sunday afternoon to see his side avenge that nine-try defeat.

York will be in action for only the second time in five weeks following their 38-28 win over London Skolars on September 7. That game saw them crowned Championship One champions, five points ahead of Hunslet and six ahead of Oldham.

Naylor said: “I don’t see us going to York this time and playing like we did in July. It was one of those days when if anything could go wrong, it did go wrong.”

Four key players who figured prominently in the Roughyeds’ thrilling 25-24 play-off triumph at Hunslet on Friday didn’t feature at York last time.

Kenny Hughes, Jon Ford and Nathan Mason were out injured and Gareth Owen wasn’t an Oldham player.

Of even more significance, Naylor’s men couldn’t escape the wrath of referee Tom Crashley, who penalised them nine times in a row.

York expects fans to turn out in force for what could be the last game at the Huntington Stadium. Next season they will play at the Bootham Crescent home of York City FC while a new joint stadium is built.