Cup clash battle at end of month

SPOTLAND: getting the ground ready for play would have been too great a task

THE postponed Rochdale Hornets v Oldham Law Cup game will be played at Spotland on January 31.

Hornets don’t open up in the iPro Sport Cup until February 21 and don’t begin their League One campaign until March 6, so they had no hesitation in proposing January 31 as a new Law Cup date when frost and snow caused the game to be called off yesterday.

Oldham chairman Chris Hamilton and coach Scott Naylor had to give the proposal serious thought because Roughyeds were planning to have a free Sunday that day, before the start of their Championship campaign.

The plan was for Naylor to give the squad a two-week gap between their final warm-up game on January 24 and their Championship baptism on February 7, But they now face a seven-day turn-round.

But Naylor fully supports the concept of the pre-season derby, which he would like to see played every year.

Said Hamilton: “Our situation is different to Rochdale’s because our season proper starts much sooner than theirs. But Scott and I have looked at all the pros and cons and decided on January 31.”

In postponing the game yesterday, Hornets said snow and frost had made public areas of the ground unsafe.

The statement said: “The pitch was rated 50-50 at best, but the amount of work needed to clear snow off the covers, car park and gangways was too much of a task, given doubts over the pitch.”