WHEN Roughyeds kick-off against Hunslet this Sunday it will have been 56 days since their last game at Boundary Park, writes Kasey Smith.

Oldham have been on the road for the past five games on the trot due to pitch maintenance at Boundary Park

Roughyeds have won four out of their five games on the road having come up short against promotion rivals Keighley.

And head coach Sean Long is relishing the prospect of playing in front of an ever-growing home crowd.

“The fans have been immense this season,” he said. “We’ve got nine games left and seven of those are at home.

“It’ll be great to finally get back to Boundary Park – it seems like we’ve been on the road for so long.

“We’ve got Hunslet coming up and we’ll dust ourselves down for that, but I can’t wait to get back in front of our loud fans.”

Roughyeds have fared better at home in matches in all competitions this year with them scoring less and conceding more on average in away games.

Oldham have averaged just short of 50 points a game at home, compared to just under 34 points scored in away games.

Similarly, they have conceded more in away games, averaging just over 15 points a game compared with under 10 points at home.

Opponents Hunslet have been in hot form and were on a run of five back-to-back wins, which included a 26-18 win over Keighley, but they fell to fourth last weekend with a shock 48-18 loss to Rochdale Hornets.

Oldham tonked the Parksiders 62-0 earlier in the year, so will be confident going into the game which will kick off at the earlier time of 2pm, to avoid a clash with the England football team in the Euros.

Ahead of kick-off, to commemorate Armed Forces Day - which takes place this Saturday - there will be pre-match presentations from veterans, cadets and armed forces personnel.