WIN or lose, Oldham could enjoy a decent pay day from Sunday’s Betfred League 1 promotion semi-final against Bradford Bulls at Odsal.

It’s a shared gate and the Bulls, the best supported side in League 1, could attract a crowd of 4,000-plus for a sudden-death encounter with so much at stake.

With season tickets invalid, they’ve already made an impassioned plea to Bulls fans to turn up in force, to make Odsal rock and to cheer their favourites into the play-off final against Doncaster or Workington Town.

They seem to be aware, though, that matches of this nature don’t always go as expected.

Chairman Andrew Chalmers has gone on public record, saying: “In semi-final football you can throw the form book out of the window.

“It’s scary stuff. Players do crazy stuff. Anything is on the cards.”

It will be the Roughyeds’ second clash with the Bulls in the space of a fortnight.

They came to the Vestacare Stadium on September 16 in the penultimate game of the regular season and won 24-16, but take away a 10-minute spell in the run-up to half-time and there was little to separate the sides.

Indeed, despite the loss of carded trio Davies, Nelmes and Hooley, Oldham rendered Bulls scoreless in the second half while themselves adding a Craig Briscoe try, goaled by Hooley, to their early scores by Dave Hewitt and Matt Reid.

Of the seven players available to Naylor to replace the three banned men only two are out-and-out forwards, Adam Jones and Liam Bent.

Danny Rasool, a centre, has doubled up in the past as a second-rower, but the obvious move would be to switch Jack Spencer from loose-forward to the front-row and bring in young back-rowers Jones and Bent. Kyran Johnson, who has been playing on the wing, would seem to be the obvious replacement for Hooley at full-back.

Also staking a claim for a semi-final recall will be wingers Dave Eccleston and Ben West and centre Zack McComb.

Bulls will remain strong favourites to win Sunday’s showdown, but Naylor’s men can call on plenty of positives from their previous clashes with the Bulls this year.

Even the Good Friday league game at Odsal, which the Bulls won 30-12, was a much harder-fought contest than the score would indicate.

The game kicks off at 3pm and normal Bradford admission prices (bought before game day) will be charged.

Terrace standing: Adults £18, concessions £13, juniors £5.

Provident Stand (seats): Adults £23, concessions £18, juniors £10.

Bulls fans are in the habit of buying tickets before game day so Oldham supporters need to be aware that these prices increase by £2 in each category if purchases are made at the turnstiles on the day.

Fans can buy in advance online by visiting the Bradford Bulls website and following the links.