LittleboroRoughyed

I thought the referee was very good & so far this season the standard of refereeing has been better than last year. A few observations from yesterday: PLT has to start at fullback; Tyrer should now be first choice winger along with Agoro; Morgan to drop out with O’Keefe in at centre; Ellis is so important to the team (in place of Astley); & Whilst we weren’t at our best, I was very impressed with Cornwall - big physical team who were well organised.

Didn’t realise that this game is being streamed on the Sportsman. Good for me as I’ll be able to watch whilst at my son’s football tournament

The new Oldham owners highlighted that last season we were probably the smallest team in the division and that they’d specifically addressed that this season to the extent that we’re probably the biggest team (it obviously helps when you’ve had a big cash injection). Good luck for the rest of the season!

Awful first 40 but still in it. If we cut out the silly errors & catch the high ball we can win this. Neither side have created much with all the points having come from poor errors

The objective of sport is to win games by playing your strongest team. The squad players have had opportunities against Keighley & London & did well but this is the hardest run of games we’ll have all season. There’ll be plenty of game time for everyone with injuries, suspension & needing to rest some of the older players against the likes of Newcastle, Cornwall etc.

I thought Rochdale defended really well today. Oldham were solid & never really got out of 2nd gear but never looked in any danger. Referee was inconsistent for both teams, anyone know why Lawton was sin binned? Andrade & the Rochdale scrum half was very good. I’d like to see Oldham vary the attack a bit more & go wide rather than consistently down the middle but we’re winning. Really impressed with the Chapelhow’s I wasn’t sure when we signed them but they’re great

Whether the crowd was 1200 or 1072 they’re good numbers. Oldham had over 1500 against Fax & over 1200 against London. If we can get the 2 crowds to attend the derbies this season that would make amazing atmosphere. Things looking up at both ends of the A627M.

Forwards were immense today both going forward & in defence. A few tweaks required on the edges as Halifax created a few overlaps but poor handling let them down. Dominated the game overall & our attack will get better once the players gel with more game time. The stand holds 2.5k & was fuller than against Workington last season but the crowd announced was smaller I think which was surprising. Free entry for kids is great, not seen that many for years. Stronger Together!

I’ve ordered 2 junior season tickets - what happens next do they get posted out?

Thanks Dave. That’s disappointing about the shirts as I’m sure at the fans forum they said they’d be available for Xmas, which from the VX3 website has now brought forward it’s forecast delivery dates from 1 Jan 24 to mid-December. Hopefully the club financially benefits from those who will have to pay the full price for Father Christmas to deliver

Are the season tickets on sale now? I want to get the kids one with the home shirt but want to ensure the shirts will be here for Xmas. Any help?

Do you think Ellis may fill the starting hooker role?

Lawton was the difference in the pre-season friendly when we outplayed Widnes but when he came on we just couldn’t handle him. I’m most interested in the hooker position now with Wilky confirmed as leaving. Haven’t seen any rumours apart from the SL academy youngster (Saints/Leeds can’t remember which one).

This was pretty much the first thing the new owners of Oldham did (led by Mike Ford) was re-establish links with the local community clubs and re-establish the junior Oldham town teams & have been running coaching clinics.

Good signing for you & always tried hard for Oldham. If you can consistently get him to run straight rather than diagonal then he’ll make the hard yards.

The released list was confirmation of the players that Oldham were not in contract negotiations. Those not on the list are players that the club wish to explore the opportunity to retain but will also be subject to offers by other clubs. It’s interesting that the players the club are bringing in are on 2 year deals, which provides stability beyond next season however, if the players don’t perform as expected will require some form of pay off to release from the 2nd year of their contracts. A bit of a risk particularly without a coach being in place.

I’m sure there will be some form of promotion bonus + professional pride. You don’t reach this level without a will to win. Last week we were blown off the park by Doncaster & couldn’t gain any momentum, the players should be smarting after that, especially the forwards, so I would expect a reaction

Kopczak has signed a 2-year deal for Oldham

Excellent performance for c. 60 mins against a big, physical & well organised Workington team. Great turnout with lots of kids, returning old faces & people from the local community clubs. Lots of money generated from parking & food & drink outlets it would be interesting to know what share we get as that could be close to the Avro turnstile income alone. Were there any other announcements made aside from JT player / assistant coach role? Good appointment (as opposed to stepping in as head coach) will be interesting to see who he will be working under. Any rumours?

A poor performance overall but we came away with a win. Agree that we tried to play too lateral too early without earning the right through hard yards down the middle. A good attendance & it was good to see so many Oldham kids who wanted to interact with Roary. The down side was an Oldham idiot shouting & swearing throughout the game berating Ridyard, Hawesthorne & Ford who couldn’t string a sentence together without swearing every 2nd word - totally unnecessary.

You’re right Padge but I’ve seen more off field efforts in the last few months than in years & there have been a lot of lapsed fans returning & a lot more kids at the matches. It is a steep hill but we’re taking the first optimistic step as opposed to being on the edge of a precipice

I think we could achieve 3 - 4k in the bigger games & aim for a 3k average. This could be in c. 5yrs so it’s a long term plan after 20 years of lurching from season to season. From memory, the last time we were successful in 2001(?) when we lost to Widnes in the NFP Final (Ford was the player coach) we were at about this level I think.

The good thing is there were 230 kids there who now know who Oldham are and were given free tickets to come & watch. Ford has also lead the re-creation of the Oldham town team at junior age groups, negotiated a 10-year lease at Boundary Park from next season (Oldham Athletic c. 12k all seater in heart of the town) & is re-engaging with the fans. Super League is a long-term aspiration but we could easily be similar to Salford, Hudds, Cas, Wakey etc. RL is still strong in the town & the community clubs continue to churn out quality players.

Disappointing performance with lots of errors both in attack & defence. Thought Rawsthorne, Nelmes, Hirst, Whittel & Meadows were good. Massive improvement needed for next week.

I thought DCE (oldest player on the pitch?) chasing down Chrichton epitomised the Maroons - effort, spirit & a fair bit of class. Luai is a massively overrated grub!