Preview: Oldham v York

Tony Benson’s Oldham side start a period in which they will play five home fixtures in their next six outings.

And with their 100 per cent Co-operative Championship One record still intact, the coming weeks could be a chance for Oldham to establish themselves firmly in the top two league places.

But Benson said: “We’re not focussing on the table at all. We’re focusing on what we’re doing each week. We’ll start looking at the table in the second half of the season.”

Neil Roden (broken foot), Marcus St Hilaire (back), Chris Clarke (lip), Martin Roden (head) and Craig Robinson (elbow) will all be assessed on Thursday night before Benson finalises his squad for Sunday’s clash.

York have suffered a major blow after scans revealed that Chris Thorman is facing “a few weeks” out with a quad injury, but Paul Stamp is set to return for the trip to Lancashire.

Knights director of rugby Dave Woods said: “We need to be more intense in everything we do, whether that’s at training or in a game.

“We need to address that and start to get a little bit more intensity about us. We can’t keep coming into the changing rooms after a game having had our pride hurt.”