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Must try harder

Gavin Browne
28/ 1/2008

A PLAINLY unhappy Steve Deakin ordered his Oldham players to cut out the errors after watching them beaten 26-20 in Sunday’s AJ Law Cup tie.

Defeat by Rochdale Hornets at Spotland was not the ideal way to prepare for Friday's opening Northern Rail Cup group game.

The Hornets fans certainly let the Oldham players know their opinions as cries of 'what a waste of money' echoed from the seats by the players' tunnel.

Whether the chants were deliberately antagonistic or merely mischievous, Deakin admitted his side got what they deserved.

He said: "I'm disappointed because I thought we were out-enthused. One thing you get from a Bobbie Goulding-coached team is they will be competitive and hard to beat, so I wasn't disappointed in that, I was disappointed in the side.

"We ran at 50 per cent (completion rate) which wasn't good enough. Some of the people didn't do themselves favours, some of the people out there were having their first hit-outs like Craig Littler and Tommy Goulding, maybe they found problems jumping into the rhythm.

"If you look at every single yardage set, we carried it 15 or 20 further than they did but they ran at 78 per cent first half and we ran at 50 per cent. They had enthusiastic people with four or five in the tackle and getting Marcus St Hilaire and Mick Nanyn on the touchline - everything they did, they did with enthusiasm."

Simeon Hoyle (ankle) is a doubt to face Swinton Lions on Friday after coming off with an ankle injury, a matter of moments after coming off the bench to replace Phil Joseph.

Daryl Cardiss also did not figure after going to hospital for a check-up after complaining of migraines following a car accident.