Friday evenings are a bit awkward for me at the moment, but I had to be there – the first match of Salford RLFC’s seventh instalment against Oldham – to clap the new boys out onto the pitch. Many others, encouragingly, had the same urge, and many, like me, ended up missing kick-off. 

Not that I got to the stadium late. I was there 45 minutes beforehand, supping a beer outside waiting for the queues to die down, but they never the did. The traffic was blocked more than usual with Barton Lane being shut for works and an accident occurring on the ‘new road’. Even so, I guess more people turned up than the club and the stadium were expecting. 

Only two stands were open, and there has been talk online that some stragglers were turned away. The South Stand was certainly chocka, but there were easily a couple of hundred seats available near the Oldham fans at the north end of the West Stand. I know because this is where I and my lot ended up watching the match. Weirdly, there’s bird shit everywhere down that end, but there were two bonuses – no queues at the bar and the bogs.

No official attendance wasn’t given – a growing yet rueful trend in the lower league – but I’ll stick my index finger in the air and say circa. 5,000. Let’s just say that I haven’t been in a queue that deep since the Super League Grand Final tickets went on sale.

The queue for the South Stand turnstiles

Oldham are, perhaps, the early second favourites for the Championship title behind London Broncos. It’s hard to say really because the bookies are inconsistent when giving odds for anything outside of Super League, and with Salford being such an unknown quantity, there are no odds listed for them at all. But those two clubs appear to be the standouts.

With players such as Jake Bibby, Kieran Dixon, Josh Drinkwater and Jack Omrondroyd in their ranks, I doubt many of us were expecting much this night. Coupled with the fact, mentioned by head coach Mike Grady, that Salford’s squad had only one training session in preparation. 

There was a raucous atmosphere that Oldham had to overcome, but the gulf in class was apparently quite early. A solid 44–0 victory for them, but as I was expecting 60 before the match, not bad all things considered. Especially as I’ve witnessed decent quality Salford teams wilt and crumble under the weight of 70+ point drubbings. (Yes, I was at Bradford that day.) 

An unfortunate incident in the West Stand late in the first half pushed the match back by around twenty or so minutes. Steve Brown, a key figure at Oldham’s Heritage Trust, suffered a cardiac arrest. He himself sent the word out later that he was recovering well at Salford Royal, but it was clearly, and understandably, a traumatic experience for those around him. 

So, as Salford have played one of the best sides in the Championship, we now get to gauge where they are next in playing an amateur side in the Challenge Cup. Regardless of the situation, Salford, as the professional outfit, will be expected to win against Hammersmith Hills Hoists.