from 1 to 15: Shirley, Gill, Smith, Gregory, Jones, Brown, Craven, Moore, Goodwin, R Hayes, Coy, Grundy, L Hayes, Rees and Foden. The Bench is Wainwright, Wright and Evans.

I think we can safely assume that side is the best they can muster and they will be pretty much at full strength, which is how it should be. We will have a detailed look at Chester in a word or several, but first a quick glance at the state of The Bee Nation.

The news from our treatment room is that Benny Greaves is out of contention with a sore shoulder and Aaron Magee is out with a bad back. Other than those two, we are also dealing from a full deck.

You will no doubt have seen the side we have selected, posted elsewhere about this web site and so will be fully apprised of the side Ronnie and Henry have selected, so I won’t repeat it here. The immediate task before us facing second in the league on their own patch, is obviously a toughie, but as a drinker from the half full cup, we go into the game as fifteen on fifteen and with every possibility of emerging from the day in profit.

The bigger picture is that we must do enough from these final four games of the season to re-appear in this division next season and again we should have every belief that the boys can go out and get the job done. Two of our remaining fixtures are at home, next week against Percy Park and two weeks beyond that we host Birkenhead Park. Slotted in between we have a run out to Wakefield to face the most improved side in the division, Sandal. Of course our fate could be decided elsewhere if Birkenhead Park fail to keep notching the points, as they are still twelve behind us, also with four to play. BP face Penrith this week at their own Upper Park ground and will also entertain West Hartlepool at the same venue on April 20th. Sandwiched between those two home games they have a tricky little run out up at Marl Pits, where Rossendale lie in wait. I am not going to tempt fate with any outlandish predictions of the outcomes of those games but to clarify the criteria if we should end the season on the same league points as Birkenhead, here is how the RFU says we should be separated:

If two or more Clubs have the same number of League points at the end of the Season, final league positions shall be determined firstly by the number of wins achieved and then on the basis of match points scored.

(i)A Club with a larger number of wins in the League shall be placed higher than a Club with the same number of League points but fewer wins.

(ii) If Clubs have equal League points and an equal number of wins in the league then a Club with a larger difference between match points ‘for’ and match points ‘against’ shall be placed higher in the League than a Club with a smaller difference between match points ‘for’ and match points ‘against’.

(iii) Should two Clubs have the same number of League points and an equal number of wins and the same match points difference, a Club having scored more match points ‘for’ shall be placed higher in the League than a Club having the lesser number of match points ‘for’.

(iv) If this still does not establish the positions then the Clubs involved shall be ranked according to the number of matches won, excluding the first League match of the season. If necessary this process shall be extended to exclude the second match, third match and so on until the final positions are established.

So what can we say about our opponents? Chester took over at the top of the division on November 17th when The Gate slipped up, and they remained up on the top perch until March 16th when they were gazumped by the same club. Chester are the leading scorers in the division by a country mile, with 906 points scored in their 23 league games played thus far. If you are tempted to dig out the calculator, I can tell you that their scoring average is not quite 40 a game, 39.39 if you insist, while at the other end of the pitch, the 413 they have conceded puts them at third best defensively in the ladder, a touch under 18 points per game.

We lost the reverse fixture at Wagon Lane by 18 points to 36, which I suppose nearly matches the Chester average, but I don’t think I am living too far inside cloud cuckoo land to say we were disappointed with that return as we led 13-10 at the break and looked like we could kick on in the second half. We rather gifted Chester the points they scored that afternoon, but to be fair they didn’t muck about in taking the chances we coughed up.

See you at Hare Lane.

Scoop.

Below: Adam Malthouse takes some lineout ball in Novembers game with Chester at Wagon Lane