Short-handed Oldham head for Southport trip

RUGBY UNION: OLDHAM travel to Southport for a Lancashire Plate quarter-final on Saturday.

Even though it is Valentine’s Day, there will be no love lost between the two sides.

Southport are at the same level as Oldham in South Lancashire and Cheshire Two, and have lost only three league games this season.

Selection for Oldham will be tricky. With a list of injuries and unavailability of players, it is a case of waiting to see who will turn up on tomorrow morning to catch the coach.

Oldham won the trophy in a dramatic final against De La Salle in 1997 and again the following year against Birchfield.

They had considered withdrawing this time given their player shortage, but that would not have been fair on the opposition so Oldham will take a paper-thin squad to the seaside and hope for the best.