Saints looking for big effort

St Annes’ Paul Ashton

OLDHAM St Anne’s coach Mick Cashin is hoping for a similar level of effort to last week when facing Widnes St Marie’s at Higginshaw Road tomorrow (2pm kick off).

Though Saints lost 38-24 at Millom in National Conference League division one, it took a late comeback from the home side to turn things around — despite the fact they had a man advantage for almost an hour.

“It caught up on us in the final 15 minutes,” said Cashin, who had seen his team hold a 24-10 lead at one stage. “We were very pleased with with the commitment that was shown, though.”

Andy Sands was the man dismissed for Saints, for an alleged high tackle described by Cashin as “clumsy” rather than malicious.

It was an unfortunate turn of events for the prop forward, who only recently made a return to the club following his release from Blackpool due to difficulty over travelling commitments.

Another ex-Blackpool player Paul Ashton should return to the St Anne’s line-up having been unable to make the Cumbria trip last week, but there are unlikely to be many more changes.

Saints, now third-bottom and occupying a spot in the relegation zone, are searching for a third home win of the season while Marie’s are in second place. However, they could only manage an 18-18 home draw with bottom-of-the-table Normanton last weekend.

WATERHEAD have been dealt a major blow ahead of their away match against division two table-toppers Milford Marlins (2pm), with the news that Alan Williamson has been ruled out for between six and eight weeks with knee ligament damage.

And Will Schofield, praised by coach Mick Slicker for his efforts this season, picked up a calf strain in last weekend’s 26-16 home loss to Castleford Lock Lane and is a doubt.

That was a game that Slicker felt got away from his side.

“We spoke before the game about how important it was to get off to a good start and we then went out and conceded a try straight away,” he said.

“At 18-0 down at half-time, we went out and got back into the game with two tries inside the opening 10 minutes of the second half. But we just couldn’t get any field position from then on. We let them off the hook, really.”

This is the second meeting of the sides this season and Waterhead will travel to Leeds seeking to make amends for a 34-24 defeat on the opening day of the season in August.

From that point on, Milford — 52-7 winners at fourth-placed Heworth last week — have only lost once and Slicker knows his side faces a tough task.

“They weren’t all that impressive at our place in all honesty, but have gathered a lot of momentum since then,” he added.

“It is just a case of us trying to get as decent a team out on the field as possible.”

Saddleworth Rangers are without a fixture this week.

But, in the other action in the town, Higginshaw take on fellow North West Counties League division four side Bamber Bridge at home in the NWC Challenge Bowl first round (2pm).