New Rochdale coach Matt Calland has added much-travelled half-back Oscar Thomas to his squad ahead of tomorrow’s visit to Craven Park.

Thomas, who has had spells at London Broncos, Skolars, Bradford and Sheffield is a Scotland international and joins Hornets on loan from Swinton Lions until the end of the season.

He is known for his strong kicking game and Calland said: “We are delighted to have Oscar on board. He will give us an extra dimension. It is no secret that we have been struggling at half-back.”

The new Hornets boss, who took over from Carl Forster at Spotland earlier in the month, wasted no time in his rebuilding job by raiding his former club Mayfield to make a string of signings including BARLA internationals Callum Marriott and Aidy Gleeson, bringing the number of players who have joined Hornets from the local National Conference League club this season alone to nine.

Like the Raiders, Rochdale will be viewing tomorrow’s showdown as a chance to get their survival bid up and running.

They are currently only a point adrift at the foot of the table but will be encouraged their only win this season was the 20-8 success against Barrow back in March.

Since then they have lost all nine matches, conceding 404 points, shipping 50 or more points on four occasions during that time.

However, their first half performance against Swinton at the Summer Bash last week was an encouraging sign for Calland, even though they surrendered a 24-10 lead before going down 30-40 in Blackpool

“I was pleased with how we played in the first half but we looked like a different team in the second,” he said.

Calland had three spells as a player at Rochdale, during which he made 120 appearances for the club, and he has a Championship Grand Final victory to his name, having been triumphant with Halifax over Featherstone Rovers in 2010.