Rams sign Oldham promotion hero ahead of Bower Fold showdown

Roughyeds are urging fans to appreciate what the game means to the club and to buy tickets in numbers so the Oldham players will have lots of support when they need it most

Young players Callum Green and Ben Holcroft, who haven't played for several weeks, are back in Matt Diskin's 21 for Oldham's important Betfred Championship clash with Dewsbury Rams at Bower Fold tomorrow (Sunday, 3pm).

Both clubs are promoting the game as a must-win Sunday showdown and the Rams - just two places above Roughyeds in the Betfred Championship's bottom four - have bolstered their front-row with the on-loan signing of Featherstone's young prop Jimmy Beckett.

It was Beckett's late try when he was on loan at Oldham in 2019 that clinched promotion for the Roughyeds in a thriller against Newcastle Thunder in the League One play-off final.

In the Oldham squad, Green and Holcroft replace centre Ben Heaton, who has had a recurrence of quad trouble, and prop Phil Joy, who suffered a fractured elbow and ligament damage at Newcastle last Sunday.

Danny Bridge will work off a one-match ban, while Dave Hewitt (ribs) and Jack Spencer (back) are still on the injured list, though responding well to treatment.

Squad: D Abram, J Abram, Barran, Bent, Brierley, Charnock, Dupree, Fletcher, Green, Gregory, Hartley, Holcroft, Hutchings, Ince, Kirk, Langtree, Nelmes, Owen, Pick, Reilly, Roberts.

Green, a full-back or half-back, has played in six of the club's 12 games in cup and league this year, four of them in the starting line-up at full-back.

His last appearance was at Featherstone on May 17, after which he lost his spot and has not been called on for the last four games against York, Widnes, Sheffield and Newcastle.

Holcroft played in four of the first seven games, but has been in the background since the home defeat by Whitehaven on May 8.

The return of the two youngsters, especially that of Green, gives coach Diskin options outside the pack where he will be looking for a replacement for injured centre Heaton.

Interestingly, he has again got three hookers in his 21, as he had at Newcastle when he started with Declan Gregory, had Jamie Abram on the bench and left out club captain Gareth Owen.

Owen keeps his place in the 21, as does young tearaway prop Tyler Dupree, who was also left out last week.

Dewsbury, like Roughyeds, have had a poor run of results of late and have plummeted into the bottom four with two points more than Oldham, who are next to bottom with two wins from ten games compared with Dewsbury's three wins from nine. 

Rams signed Dan Hawksworth to bolster their front-row, but he's got a one-match ban so Beckett will replace him.

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