Kilshaw fires up Hornets for cup
HORNETS head coach Alan Kilshaw is desperate for a victory against local rivals Oldham Roughyeds this weekend – even though it is a friendly.
The two teams continue their pre-season preparations when they meet at Bower Fold on Sunday in the LAW Cup.
Hornets head into the game on the back of a 44-18 loss to Super League side Salford Red Devils at the Crown Oil Arena last week.
Kilshaw wasn’t too bothered about losing that match, but insists that he wants to see his team win against Oldham on Sunday.
“This game gives us another run out but we will be treating this one more as a game that we want to win,” he said.
“It will be tough because Oldham have got a good home record. They didn’t win that many games on the road last year but still stayed up, so that shows how good they were at home. They’ve had a few tough away games against Swinton Lions and Barrow Raiders, and they’ll be battle hardened for it.
“We’ll go out and not make many changes and look to put out our strongest side to keep it consistent.”
The LAW Cup made its return after a three-year absence last season, with Oldham running out 29-12 winners.
Kilshaw is keen to gain revenge this time round, and says that the players are champing at the bit to get going.
“Everybody is looking forward to playing Oldham again so it’s a good benchmark for us,” he said.
“We’re going up against a good side that did well in the Championship last year, so it’s nice to see where we are a few weeks away from round one.
“The average age of this squad is around 23 or 24, so all the players are excited and want to show what they can do.”
Hornets appeared to suffer a couple of knocks in the match against Salford last weekend, but Kilshaw is confident that his team will be at full strength against Oldham.
“In the early games during pre-season you feel it more because you’ve not been playing,” he said.
“Jo Taira got a bang on the knee but I don’t think it will be threatening enough to make him not play this weekend.
“Other than that we got through well. Miles Greenwood got a dead leg but he’s fine, so we’re in pretty good shape.
“Rob Massam missed the game because he was only at around 60 or 70 per cent, so he should be back this week.”
Hornets have a number of former Oldham players in their side, with as many as five potentially lining ●●Miles Greenwood will be one of several Hornets players to face their former club in the Law Cup clash against Oldham tomorrow up against their ex-club this weekend.
Lewis Palfrey, Gary Middlehurst, Jack Holmes, Josh Crowley and Miles Greenwood previously played for Oldham earlier in their careers.
Dave Cookson is also a former Roughyed, but he isn’t set to feature while he waits to have an operation.
Oldham head into the game on the back of a 22-22 draw with Barrow. Nathan Chappell may potentially make his debut for the team against Hornets.
Danny Grimshaw could also make an appearance following groin surgery, and Oldham coach Scott Naylor hopes to have them back.
“Both of them will be in contention for Sunday if they suffer no adverse effects,” he told the club’s official website.
“We talked about one or two things from the Barrow game. What concerned me most was the amount of time Barrow spent near our line, but a lot of our stats were better than they were at Swinton and we’ll be looking to improve again on Sunday versus Rochdale.”