VICTORY at Oldham on Sunday will see Leigh Centurions take a giant step towards qualifying for the knockout stages of the Arriva Trains National Cup.

But Leigh are acutely aware of a possible backlash from Oldham who were humiliated 62-4 by Salford last weekend.

"That result will have stung them badly," says Centurions coach Paul Terzis. "The same thing happened to Rochdale - and just look how they responded against us last weekend," he pointed out.

Competitive

Terzis has watched the video of Oldham's hammering by Salford and says: "It was only in the final 25 minutes that it all went pear-shaped for them. Up to that point they had been very competitive. They will want to prove to themselves and their fans that it was a one-off result."

Both sides will be well below full strength at Boundary Park with injuries biting deeply into both squads.

Leigh's powerhouse prop Sonny Nickle is ruled out with a recurrence of an elbow injury while John Hamilton is again another non-starter while he waits for the results of bone scan on his damaged wrist.

Rib injuries to Alan Hadcroft and Rob Ball casts a doubt over their fitness while Pat Weisner, who missed the Rochdale game, will be given a late fitness check on his damaged knee.

Oldham, who need to beat Leigh to keep their qualification hopes alive, also have their injury worries.

Influential skipper Phil Farrell won't play. The loose-forward broke two fingers and suffered damaged hand tendons against Salford and he will be out for at least a month. Scrum-half Keith Brennan is doubtful with a rib cartilage problem and centre Jon Goddard is struggling with a hamstring problem. Ex-Leigh hooker Anthony Murray, who has forced his way in Oldham in recent weeks, is also a doubt with a knee strain.

But Oldham's other ex-Hilton Park contingent - Chris Irwin, Paul Anderson, Simon Svabic and Chris Morley - should all play.