SIMON SMITH: We're all set for tough trip to Heath

We have a huge game this weekend on the road at our promotion rivals Heath.
Simon Smith's viewSimon Smith's view
Simon Smith's view

Middlesbrough did us a favour and beat second-placed Beverley on Saturday, but like I have said on several occasions, there are no easy games in this league and teams will slip up along the way.

We have to go to Heath and Beverley yet, and our rivals at the top have to play each other several times too, so there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way.

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I fully expect the promotion battle to go right down to the last weekend of the season, whenever that may be with games that have been postponed.

We still have our Yorkshire Shield semi-final against Beverley to fit into our schedule too, so it could be a squeeze.

I took the opportunity to watch the Vikings play BP Chemicals on Saturday, with us having a free weekend.

We took the chance to get a few of our players who needed some match fitness a run out.

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Tom Harrison continued his return to fitness after injury and got a full 80 minutes under his belt and had a good game.

Jordan Wakeham had half a game as he felt he needed some more game time under his belt, and I have no doubt he’ll benefit from that.

Mikey Whitton played for an hour, as did Euan Govier, who has had injuries recently and also need time out on the field.

Jack Anderson was another player who has been in and around the first-team squad who got in some game time.

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I was really, really pleased with the numbers and application at training last week, especially given we didn’t have a first-team game.

We need to carry that momentum and effort into this week as we approach what is another critical game in our season.

I think the only player we will be without this weekend is Matty Oxtoby, who couldn’t play at the weekend, which was a shame as he could have been in contention had he got some game time in.

I expect Nino Cutino to be ok after his rib injury.

To have everyone available is a good headache to have as a coach, hopefully we can go there and put in a performance that will bring us a big win.