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Groundstaff are set for pitch battle

23/ 1/2008

ROCHDALE Hornets will stage a final pitch inspection at 3pm on Friday to determine whether Sunday’s Law Cup tie against the Roughyeds can take place.

Last week’s heavy rain forced the postponement of Rochdale’s match with Bradford City at Spotland.

With this week’s weather forecast making similarly depressing reading, the outlook for play does not look good.

A first inspection was arranged for 3pm on Wednesday with Hornets looking to hire some drying equipment should they be able to take it onto the playing surface.

Friday’s inspection will take place at the same time because Hornets officials would prefer to avoid the non-recoverable costs associated with a last minute cancellation.

However, there has been some good news for Oldham this week with the announcement of three new sponsorship deals.

Fitness First, West Pennine Truck Rental and Oldham Primary Care Trust have all signed agreements with the club for the 2008 season.

The deal with the PCT will see Oldham’s shirts carry their ‘Quit-It’ logo, designed to help the borough’s smokers kick their habit.

Chief executive Chris Hamilton said: "We are proud to spearhead the ‘Quit-It’ campaign, which is an extremely important and major social issue. Professional sport has been targeted as one of the best ways to get the message across and if we can play our part in that we will be proud to do so.

"Hopefully, we can contribute significantly to the success of the campaign and to helping to improve people’s lives."

The deal with West Pennine came about through the friendship between Oldham director Sean Whitehead and West Pennine director Warren Fletcher.

The company, whose head office and depot is at Stakehill Industrial Park, Middleton, has 10 depots across the UK and over 200 vehicles on the road.

Fitness First’s arrangement comes on the back of Roughyeds’ use of their gym at Sandbrook Park, Rochdale, for the past seven weeks.