Featherstone Rovers had their game at Whitehaven postponed which was something of a mixed blessing according to coach Jon Sharp: “We’d have liked to continue playing,” he said.
“We had four friendly games against Super League opposition and acquitted ourselves really well. Then the two Championship games, the one at Bradford was a tough one. I thought we were pretty good in a lot of areas and the same against Batley, a really physical, tough game which will stand us in good stead
“So we were pretty keen on playing again, however, we had a couple of bumps and bruises as well so we had mixed feelings. We have to pick the fixture up later in the season so hopefully the weather will be a bit drier.
“Oldham were absolutely outstanding last week, they played well the week before as well. We know that they are a threat; this competition at the minute is full of surprises, hopefully we’re not going to be one this week! If we don’t turn up we’ll be in for a long day.”
Back rower Jamie Cording should be back in contention this week after his shoulder injury and loose forward Colton Roche will return.
Scott Naylor, the Oldham coach, was delighted with his team’s first win in the Championship: “I was made up because we work hard at Oldham and it was nice to see the lads look like a Championship team and play so well, “ he said. “There were a lot of positives to come out of the London and Leigh games and it was nice to see them doing the things they did against those teams but improve on them.
“The bounce of the ball went our way, as did a couple of decisions, but we played very well in all aspects of the game. Our defence was excellent. It was a good thing for the club to win their first Championship game in a long time.
“If we have that as the absolute minimum of how we perform for the rest of the season then we should win more games than probably a lot of people expect us to.
“We’ve got to go to Featherstone and play at least at that level and hopefully play at a higher level. If we do that we’ve got a chance against anybody that’s not pushing for a top three or four spot.”
