Wallace back to bolster Saints

Amateur rugby

ANDY WALLACE makes a welcome return for Oldham St Anne’s following the completion of an eight-match suspension.

The 27-year-old loose forward could hardly come back at a better time, with Saints desperate for a win over Castleford Panthers at Higginshaw Road (2.30pm) to stop the slide towards relegation in National Conference League division one.

Coach Mick Cashin was disappointed with the way his side performed in last week’s 38-16 home reverse to Millom, in which the visitors picked up no less than five interception tries.

Saints, third from bottom of division one, picked up a superb 12-10 win in the reverse fixture in West Yorkshire and Cashin remains confident of completing the double.

“We have asked for a good reaction to last week and we have had it in training so far this week,” he said. “We all know the position we are in and what we need to do to pull out of it.”

Saddleworth Rangers are aiming to pick out the lessons learned in their heavy Challenge Cup defeat to Widnes Vikings last week.

Keith Brennan’s side have a division one home match against bottom-of-the-table Shaw Cross Sharks (2.30pm) and need to pick up points in order to refuel a promotion challenge.

Jason Best, who missed the Widnes tie with a rib injury, begins a two-match suspension but Jimmy Rogers is fit once again and will shore up the forwards.

“They may be bottom, but you can’t take anything for granted in this division as results go against the grain every week,” Brennan said.

“We have got two home matches followed by another at home against Siddal (in the quarter-finals of the BARLA National Cup) and we have to aim to start climbing the table.”

In division two, Waterhead aim to build on the success of last week’s 36-26 victory away at Hull Isberg by turning the tables on Stanley Rangers at home (2.30pm).

Waterhead won the reverse fixture in Wakefield 33-16, with stand-off Terry Fitzgerald claiming 25 points on his own that day.

A repeat performance from Mick Slicker’s men could move them up a place to fourth-bottom, provided Egremont are beaten at home by Milford.

Will Schofield and Martin Sarsfield should recover from slight injuries sustained last week, though Slicker is likely to be without Keiran Grennan.