Trailing 20 points to four at the break, Mercer's men dug deep; a 70th minute Gavin Dodd try the clincher. Indeed, a look at them stats show that Oldham scored three of their four tries in the second half, whilst conceding none: so Oldham certainly seem to have enough in the tank to go the full 80.

The Oldham, squad is a strange mix of old and new. Kiwi Marty Turner at scrum half, Cook Islanders Tere Glassie, Jon Wilson and Carlos Mataora line up alongside ex-pie eaters Simon Haughton and Ricky Bibey. More familiar faces in an Oldham jersey provide a formidable threat - most notably Jon Goddard, Nick Johnson and Gavin Dodd: ther are a lot of tries there, for sure.

So Mercer has the bones of a squad that will get much better as the season progresses.

Which is what we're hoping for too after last week's lack-lustre performance at Swinton. Much like us, Bobbie Goulding was flummoxed by the stuttering start: "I can't put a finger on what went wrong," he said. "... We had two pre-season friendlies and they went well - as did the training." When pushed to provide any positives from the game Bob said: "Are you having a laugh?"

So after a heavy week on the training pitch, Hornets start again. Games with the 'old enemy' should require little motivation for the players. Notable absentee on Sunday will be Radney Bowker who is resting a cartilage injury. Otherwise, we'll be looking for a much improved performance from the same side as last week.

Ultimately, whatever the competition, games against Oldham take on a huge sense of importance: bragging rights at either end of the A627M more important than much else, it seems.

You can't beat a bit of local rivalry - so get down to Spotland on Sunday and let's get our season underway properly. It'll be a cracker - so don't miss it.