After a long meeting of major creditors in Manchester broke up with several issues unresolved, there is still an air of uncertaintly clouding Gary Mercer's preparations.

Fighting an Inland Revenue winding-up order, the Roughyeds owe £180,000 in unpaid tax and is asking the Revenue and Customs and Excise to accept a reduced figure under the terms of a creditors’ voluntary agreement (CVA). Further talks that it's hoped would secure the future of the club are due to take place today.

In a very generous gesture, Roughyeds' landlords Oldham Athletic are giving them the use of Boundary Park for nothing on Friday. Eager to capitalise on this, chairman Chris Hamilton is urging fans to show their support of the club by voting with their feet. “Not only does the club need the money, but a good attendance would give out a very powerful message to the Inland Revenue," he said.

With an injury crisis sweoping the squad, things are difficult on the field as well. In addition to Andrew Isherwood, who has retired from the sport with a back injury, Mercer has eight players on the treatment table.

Damian Munro, Gareth Barber, Craig Farrimond, Adam Sharples, Tere Glassie, Martin Elswood and Will Cowell are all cuyrrently out of action - and of those - only Glassie and Cowell have a chance of playing against Hornets.And even they are said to be only 50-50. Oldham assistant coach Keith Brennan has come out of retirement to relieve the pressure, but Mercer is busy scouring the game for reinforcements.

The Bobster will go to Boundary park without Dave Alstead in the squad - he's still sidelined after being hospitalised with a virus - and will most probably look to maintain the team's momentum.

“I’ve asked a couple of players if they want resting before the Batley game," he said: "... none of them did. They all want to play so we will be ready for it.”

Despite having nailed on over 300 points in the last four games, Bobbie still feels Hornets can do better - particularly on defence.

“I’m pleased with the way things are going,” he said. “There’s a lot more to come from the side. If we tighten up on a few more things we are going to be hard to beat," he said.

With Hornets' strike players running red-hot at the moment, Bobbie went on: “I feel that our attack is something special, but there are still a lot of things we need to work on. It’s hard when you are not full time to work on every aspect of the game, so we are going in the right direction and defence is an area we are looking at.”

Goulding is also aware of a possible backlash after Hornets' 68-24 flogging of Oldham last week. “It’s a different day, a different game," he asid "Oldham will be smarting big time. Forget the form book, it goes out the window in derby matches."

And he's right - these great derby games come down to who wants it most: and Oldham will be keen to show that, despite off-field ructions, there's still a desire at the heart of the club.

There's no doubt that the Oldham fans will rally round their club in these dark days and that they'll be right behind their team on Friday: All the more reason for Hornets fans to make the short trip to Boundary Park and give Bobbie's lads a vital lift as we seek to win our National Cup group.

We'll be congregating on the bottom tier of the main stand on the right-hand side of the tunnel - and we'd love you to join us in getting behind this resurgent Hornets team. So get down there, bring a mate, wear your Hornets colours with pride and let's make some noise.

Ultimately, it's a Hornets/Oldham derby - you really would have to be barmy to miss it.