Woods refuses to be distracted by Oldham's off-field troubles as York look for Whitebank repeat on Sunday

The clubs clash in a Championship One Grand Final qualifier on Sunday – just four days after troubled Oldham face a winding-up order brought by HM Revenue and Customs.

Although they remain confident the matter will be resolved, it has left a shadow over their preparations and could affect their performance.

"We know about their situation on Wednesday," said Woods. "Whether that upsets them we'll see but we're not worrying about it.

"We've not even discussed it. We're just looking at putting in our own performance."

York, who came in third, will need to deliver an accomplished display to overcome Tony Benson's side who came a narrow second behind champions Hunslet, have lost just three times all season and finished 13 points ahead of their closest rivals.

However, City Knights were the first side to defeat them this year and are buoyed in the knowledge they did so at Oldham's Whitebank home, the venue for next weekend's tussle.

"We played them on their first game at Whitebank back in May and got a 34-28 win so it's good for us to go there," added Woods.

"Oldham haven't got a great home record either but this is semi-final football and everything goes out of the window."

York – Yorkshire's only representatives in the play-offs – are assured they will receive a second chance at qualifying for the Grand Final, which takes place at Warrington on September 26, but hope to do so at the first attempt.

However, Oldham gained revenge for that earlier loss when they defeated York 33-18 at Huntington last month.

Woods admitted: "We didn't put any pressure on their half-back Neil Roden at all and he bossed it.

"He directed them around the park so we need to close him down better while Paul O'Connor at full-back is great at bringing the ball back and is a big threat in their backline

"It's going to be tough."

Former Castleford Tigers chief Woods – who took over from the sacked James Ratcliffe in June after earlier arriving as director of rugby – is confident the club can go on and reach the Championship.

"When I joined I knew they had a good squad here and James Ratcliffe had done a really good job with them," he said.

"York had a lot of young, talented kids and I just think they needed a little bit of discipline and more contact work in training.

"We've added more intensity and they've adjusted to it real well. I probably thought they could get promotion when I arrived and obviously still do now. That's the aim."

Yesterday, there were sudden death play-off victories for Blackpool and Rochdale.

Blackpool beat Workington 36-26, while the Hornets hammered South Wales 60-4.

Blackpool were trailing 14-0 at half-time before a storming second half saw the seaside club rally to win 36-26, with tries from John Clough, Martin Ainscough (2), Mark McCully, Damien Munro and Halliwell. Tom Hemingway kicked six goals.

In reply, Workington's tries came from Jack Pedley, Jarrod Stack (2) and Elliott Miller.

Paul Crook, Craig Ashall and Dale Bloomfield all scooped two tries each in Rochdale's 60-26 win. Other scores came from Wayne English, Adam Bowman, John Cookson and Gareth Hayes. Crook added 10 goals.

South Wales' tries came from Steve Parry, Jamie Murphy (2), Lewis Mills and Aled James, who also kicked three goals.