Thursday 25 June - The Co-operative Championship One - York City Knights v Oldham

 

Knights coach Paul March believes Thursday’s Sky televised Co-operative Championship clash could settle who finishes in second place in this year’s table.

Oldham are currently second, eight points behind runaway leaders Dewsbury, while York are just a point behind the Roughyeds.

March said: “I think it’s a massive game for us. It’s got a big bearing on where we’ll finish. If we get three points on Thursday we’re into second. Dewsbury are way out in front but it’s up to us to keep pressure on them.

“It’s our first game on Sky this year and it’s one we’re looking forward to. It’s our chance to show the rugby league world the sort of stuff we can play.”

He added: “Oldham have got a lot of experience. They’ll have been disappointed last year and wanting to put something right this year. They’re going to be there or thereabouts at the end of the year. It’s going to be very tough and that’s what we’re preparing ourselves for.”

Danny Grimshaw and Wayne McHugh are both out for York, while Oldham are missing Rob Roberts (knee) and Luke Menzies (ankle). Thomas Coyle faces a fitness test on Wednesday night.

Oldham boss Tony Benson said: “It’s quite a rare situation for us in that we’ve been three or four weeks without a game. You can only do so much to maintain match fitness. It’s the contact and remembering the little things that we’ve been working on for so long that’s the difficult part.”

He added: “York have a big squad with a lot of firepower. Their defence seems pretty good too. Teams aren’t really scoring massive points about them and they seem to be able to score plenty of points themselves.”

York City Knights v Oldham KO 7:30pm live on Sky Sports 3