DAVE WOODS reckons the pressure is on Dewsbury and Hunslet – far more than on his York City Knights team – as the Championship survival race heads into the home straight.

The three clubs are embroiled in a relegation dogfight – two are set to go down – with the Knights currently heading the mini-table of three.

And, although the points they dropped in the sorry defeat to Toulouse last week would have given them much-needed breathing space, Woods still thinks his team are in the most comfortable position of the three – despite having the hardest run-in.

“The bottom of the league table is where the pressure is and those two teams need the wins,” said York’s head coach.

“You could look at it two ways,” he said. “We lost three points we thought we’d get, but nobody really gave us a hope in hell of getting three points against Batley.

“Those three points (from the Toulouse game) would have made it so much easier for us. The other teams would have had to pick up two wins, which would have made it very tough for them.”

Toulouse are exempt from relegation given the terms of their entry into the Championship from the French league. There is talk of a reshuffle of the Championships but as it stands two teams will be relegated.

York are three points ahead of Hunslet, with Dewsbury two points further back, but the Hawks have a game in hand and four of their six matches on home turf and the Rams have the best points- difference.

Furthermore, Dewsbury and Hunslet must play each other, while Dewsbury also face Toulouse. Both clubs also have to play Barrow – Hunslet twice and Dewsbury once – and the Raiders are reportedly troubled having changed coaches and seen star man Ned Catic’s stay away following a breach of club discipline thought to be caused by a dispute over pay.

The Knights face three of the top five and a double-header against Halifax, who currently lie out of the play-off zone but are the reigning champions and reached last Sunday’s Northern Rail Cup final where they lost to Leigh.

Fax have also picked up form after a slow start to the campaign, but Woods says his side must aim for a good return from their trip to the Shay on Sunday, profiting from the home team’s relative inconsistency.

“We targeted this next one straight up,” said the Aussie, when asked where the Knights could get further points from.

“They’re playing really well one week but not so well the next, and they had a tough game last weekend that they would have been putting everything into.

“We’ll have to come out hard and fast at them and catch them off guard a bit. We’ve got to get back to the way we were defending and playing in the last few weeks before the Toulouse game.”

“They have to win. The pressure is really on them. They have to get a win from somewhere to draw equal with us.

“We need to do our thing and look after ourselves, but the pressure is massive on them.

“Those three points we lost would have given us an extra bit of confidence that we would be safe, but we know we have to pick some more points up as well.”

Woods was also pragmatic about the Toulouse defeat – when his side threw away a 24-6 lead to crash 46-32 to the team who were then bottom of the pile.

Knights fixtures

Sunday, July 24: Halifax A
(Sunday July 31 no game)
Friday, August 5: Featherstone H
Sunday, August 14: Leigh A
Sunday, August 21: Halifax H
Sunday, September 4: Sheffield A.

Hunslet fixtures

Saturday, July 23: Barrow A
Sunday, July 31: Leigh H
Sunday, August 7: Sheffield H
Sunday, August 14: Dewsbury A
Sunday, August 21: Barrow H
Sunday, September 4: Halifax H.

Dewsbury fixtures

(Sunday, July 24: no game)
Sunday, July 31: Barrow H
Sunday, August 6: Toulouse A
Sunday, August 14: Hunslet H
Sunday, August 21: Featherstone A
Sunday, September 4: Leigh H