head head head

The Dons posted a 24-12 win over the third-placed Lancashire side in last weekend’s 1895 Cup second round tie at the Vestacare Stadium.

“That win will obviously give the players confidence going into Sunday’s game,” said assistant coach Pete Green.

“We showed that we could open them up and if we had taken our chances we would have put more points on the board.

“But we know that Oldham will be a lot stronger than they were last weekend. They’ll have both second-rowers Danny Bridge and Danny Langtree available again and they’ll make a huge difference.

“They help lay the foundations for a lot of what Oldham do in attack. They both get through a lot of work and both are very direct with the ball.

“We know how good Danny Langtree can be from his time playing with us on dual-reg from Hull FC earlier in the season.

“We also left out (top try-scorer) Connor Bower and Connor Scott, who were both carrying knocks, and they’ll both come back into the squad.

“Although we’ll be lacking dual-registered forward Levy Nzoungou, who is starting a two-match ban, we’ll have his Hull teammate Jack Brown available.

“It’s a massive game for both sides and I think of the two games this is the one that we both want to win,” said Green.

“I think it will be a different sort of game to last week – more open - with the Keepmoat being a bigger pitch.

“As I say, it’s a very important game and if we were to beat Oldham and Hunslet away on Friday then things would look a lot brighter going forward.”