Redcar coach Richie Young hopes to to use his personal anguish as extra motivation to inspire the Seasiders to victory tomorrow afternoon.
Third-placed Redcar host Durham and North Two’s unbeaten leaders Ponteland at Mackinlay Park, in what could be a defining day in the division’s promotion battle.
The Seasiders, who were recently docked five points by the RFU for fielding an ineligible player, sit four points behind Acklam who currently occupy the second promotion spot.
That means Redcar must inflict a first league defeat on Ponteland tomorrow if they have a realistic chance of winning promotion.
The match will take on extra significance for Young - who suffered a broken arm in October’s reverse fixture and remains on the sidelines.
“We know how tough it will be on Saturday,” Young said.
“Ponteland are by far the best team in this league and we’ll have to be at our very best.
“This game doesn’t have many happy memories for myself personally after breaking my arm up there. That match seems a long time ago - I just remember looking at my arm and knowing it was a bad injury.
“But that’s in the past and we can take some positives from that match. We competed well in the first half last time out, so I think we’ve got a good chance of pulling off an upset.
“We’re unbeaten at home this season and we’re proud of that record. Because of that, we’ve put pressure on ourselves this week.
“If we had lost a couple of matches at home this season then I would probably say we have no pressure on us, but we’ve won 10 matches in a row at home. We want to keep that going.
“We’ll be doing everything we can to win the game.”
Relentless pacesetters Ponteland clinched a 40-17 win over Redcar last time the two sides locked horns, a result that crushed the Seasiders’ 100% start to the season.
But with only seven matches remaining, Redcar remain in contention to pull off an unlikely promotion.
Defeat to Ponteland tomorrow, coupled with an Acklam win at Hartlepool, would see that dream fade - but Young admitted promotion is something that has never been on the team’s agenda this season.
“The five point deduction means promotion is completely off our radar,” Young said.
“The rest of the season is all about upsetting a few teams and pulling off some shocks. Nobody expects us to win on Saturday, and that could play into our hands.
“If we’re being honest, promotion would be great if it does happen but we don’t really have the squad depth to compete in the league above.
“Even at this level we’re struggling week by week with numbers, especially in the front row.
“Of course, promotion would be great but it’s never really been something we’ve talked about ourselves.
“Obviously when we beat Acklam (in January) then it became something that everyone else started to talk about and tipped us for.
“But we’re not thinking about that - we just want to put in a good performance on Saturday and hopefully pull off a big shock.”
Redcar are leaving their team selection until the eleventh hour, but father and son, Alan and Josh Dixon, are available and will feature.
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