Heworth have labelled Saturday's game at home to Millom as crucial to their battle to avoid the re-election zone.

The Villagers go into the game fourth from bottom of the National Conference League division two but they are only one point above the bottom two and their three remaining away games are at the three promotion favourites, leaving them extra-keen to pick up points in their home games left, against mid-table trio Millom, Stanningley and Crosfields.

"We've got to target this one," said spokesman Ken Sykes. "I'm not saying we won't win our away games but they're tough ones so this game is a big one for us.

"We know we've probably got to win a couple more games to make sure we don't have to re-apply for re-election.

"It only takes the two teams below us to win a game and we're down there again, so we know we have to pick up more points instead of just hoping they lose all their games."

The recent fixture reshuffle meant Heworth had a week off last week, and Sykes did not think the week off necessarily helped.

He explained: "In some respects I think we would probably have been better off playing while we had some momentum on the back of a good win (at Cottingham). But I don't think it's a major issue."

The Cumbrians easily won the reverse fixture earlier in the season, but matches between these two Conference founder clubs are usually close affairs. Heworth coach Alife Hill has no injury worries as he seeks quick revenge.

York Acorn boss Dave Kay reckons Andy Gargan's late call-up to the BARLA Great Britain Under-21s squad is wholly deserved.

Scrum-half Gargan, as reported by the Evening Press, has been drafted in ahead of the U21s' game against Irish Students this month, a call-up which will prove a confidence boost as Acorn look to stay in the National Conference League division two promotion hunt by defeating bottom-club Saddleworth on Saturday.

Kay said of the youth system product: "It's a just reward for him. He came through steadily last year and this season he's performed very well and been almost an ever-present. He's playing particularly well at the moment. His go-forward has improved, which is something we've worked on."

Kay, delighted with his team's return to form, as shown by their 53-12 thrashing of Cottingham last week, was not taking Saddleworth lightly.

He said: "They did very well against the leaders, Eastmoor, a couple of weeks ago. They're fighting for their lives. But we had an excellent performance against Cottingham. Johnny Waldron got four tries and is in free-scoring form at the moment and Gareth Lloyd (who recently returned to the club from Doncaster Dragons) got a hat-trick at centre on the other wing so we're pretty potent on both sides of the field. Getting Gareth back is an excellent signing for us at this stage."

Updated: 09:42 Thursday, March 10, 2005