IT is crunch time for Malton and Norton as they travel to Beverley knowing they cannot afford to slip up.

The nail-biting race for the second promotion spot from Yorkshire Two has gone right to the wire, with Malton and West Park Bramhope vying for the honour of finishing runners-up behind Keighley and promoted to the county's top-flight.

Both clubs are level on points, although Malton do have the luxury of a superior points difference, and face tricky away trips from which they will be desperate to claw maximum points - Malton are at Beverley, while West Park travel to Heath.

Malton coach Pat Stephenson said: "Beverley will not be an easy game to finish on, but I'm sure West Park will be thinking the same about Heath.

"On their day Beverley can be an exceedingly difficult side to break down and they have shown that with their improvement in results towards the latter end of the season.

"Our first priority will be to make sure of the win and then try to improve our points for total, but at this stage we have just got to get a win or all the rest become irrelevant."

Other than the odd knock and niggling injury that come at the end of a long season, Malton are expected to be at full strength, especially as a number of key players were rested from last week's Yorkshire Shield quarter-final.

That means Duncan Foster, Richard Webster and Richard Ellis are all likely to return to action.

The Pocklington tyros which inspired the Percy Roaders to a 54-5 win over Hull Ionians Hawks last week will miss out for the club's final Yorkshire Two clash of the season against West Leeds.

Due to league rulings, England Under-16s 'A' full-back Charlie Allen and Ben Rees are both unavailable to play as they are still just 17 - a year too young - while Henry Mitchell and Matt Webber are both in the Yorkshire Under-20s squad.

However, Pock still name five teenagers in their line-up, including Stamford Bridge-based Rob Caley, who comes in for Mark Biggin.

Updated: 10:23 Friday, April 11, 2003