NRC Preview: Rochdale v Dewsbury

Hornets coach John Stankevitch says his side must be more composed if they are to threaten Dewsbury in Sunday’s Northern Rail Cup clash.

Stankevitch said: “What Oldham did well against us on Monday night was complete their sets and put us under pressure, but our biggest downfall was that we put ourselves under an immense amount of pressure with our own error count.

“We’ve got to do the basics right. We stuck to our game-plan well against Oldham – it was simply a matter that we didn’t have any composure in key areas of the field.”

Dean Gorton and Adam Bowman are likely to be fit for Hornets, with Damien Reid, Ryan McPaul and Danny Smith also pushing for a place in the centres.

“It’s going to be very tough to pick the side for Sunday,” said Stankevitch.

He added: “I’ve had a look at last year’s results and we won’t go into this game lacking any confidence. I want players to express themselves and not lose their own identity, but they’ve got to be prepared to make the right decisions. If we can do that then we’ll definitely compete.”

Ayden Faal is in line for his Dewsbury debut after recovering from a double hernia operation. “He’s passed a fitness test and he’ll be in the reckoning,” said Rams coach Warren Jowitt.

Dewsbury were on the wrong end of a 24-0 scoreline at Halifax last week and Jowitt admits his squad are desperate to put things right.

He said: “We’ve got a lot to work on. We’ve been working on things during the off-season but Sunday was just one of those blips. We didn’t play particularly well in attack. We were probably the worst we’ve been in a long time.”

He added: “What makes this game against Rochdale even more dangerous is that they’re an unknown quantity and John Stankevitch is a quality coach.”