Nathan Okell looks ahead to this weekend’s amateur rugby league action for Crosfields and Woolston Rovers.

CROSFIELDS will be looking to hone in on an automatic promotion spot in the coming weeks as the regular season begins to come to an end.

Soap sit third in National Conference League Division Two – three points behind Dewsbury Moor Maroons in the promotion places – but will be looking to close this gap in the final three rounds, starting on Saturday at sixth-place Askam, kick off 2.30pm.

Crosfields will be looking to end their run of back-to-back defeats on Saturday, with recent losses at Hood Lane to West Bowling and away to Wigan St Judes denting their promotion ambitions.

Soap will be especially hurting from the West Bowling defeat, after leading 16-4 in the second half. They ended up letting the lead slip to lose the game 22-20 via a last-minute penalty from the halfway line.

Head coach Ian Boden believes his side are not too far away though, stating: “With a little more composure and better starts to games things could look very different for us.

“The strength in depth we have is much better than in previous season and that’s shown by the players who have stepped up have been more than capable.

“If the Judes game was 10 minutes longer, I think we would have come away with a victory and on Saturday we dropped the ball over the line three times which inevitably cost us in the end.

“It’s always difficult to take a loss but the last kick of the game even more so.

“Myself and Steve (Pickersgill, assistant coach) still believe Askam is one of the toughest places to go in this league and things won’t be any different this time.

“They’re a big fast set with lots to offer in attack. It’s always a big task when we play them in their own back yard after a long coach journey.

“The lads have trained hard this week to put the wrongs right of previous weeks and we’re looking forward to a tough, hard game.”

WOOLSTON Rovers will be looking to keep their NCL Division Three promotion dream alive this Saturday when they take on Clock Face Miners at Monks Sports Club, kick off 2.30pm.

Rovers currently sit fifth in the table, one point and place behind Saturday’s opponents and only five points away from the automatic promotion places.

They have four games to make up this ground, with a game in hand on second-place Barrow Island.

They also go into the game in great form after they beat Millom 28-14 last Saturday in a performance described as their best of the season so far.

 

Harry Files takes the attack to Millom. Picture by Simon Whitehead

Speaking before Saturday’s game, Green and Golds coach Mal Holt said: “This is another massive game for us against a side who are one point and one place above us in fourth place, so a win would move us above them as we enter the final few games of the season.

“We produced a brilliant display last week against Millom, and we know that it will need to be a similar performance against Clock if we are to get the win.

“We had a narrow defeat at their place at the end of May in a game that could have gone either way, but I feel that we are now beginning to show a bit more consistency in our play.

“If we can play once again to our full ability, then we will give ourselves a great chance.

“Games against the Miners over the past two seasons have all been really close affairs and I am sure that Saturday will be no different.

“It should be a very exciting contest.”