HARROGATE have spurned an opportunity to rest players for their visit to New Brighton in the second round of the RFU Senior Cup, in advance of a trip to promotion rivals Sedgley Park next week - preferring to maintain the winning habit.

They make just one change from the side which came out on top in a 13-try scoring spree with Wharfedale. Yorkshire hooker Iain Salkeld steps down to the bench to allow university student Mark Erven to make his full debut after a handful of games as a replacement.

"The cup is an ideal opportunity to give Mark a game," said team manager Graham Siswick. "But we are not making any other changes because we want to keep the winning habit.

"And although it was a good win against Wharfedale we did concede 36 points and that needs working on. There is plenty of room for improvement and the best way to achieve that is to maintain continuity and work on the weaknesses."

One incentive for the team is the knowledge that a win would almost certainly mean another tilt at Wharfedale in the next round, with the Dalesmen unlikely to slip up at Nuneaton.

The Merseyside encounter with a team one league below Harrogate will be very much a trip into the unknown. "We have not played them for a long time and know very little about them," said Siswick. "After looking promotion certainties last season they slipped up towards the end and now they are in mid-table.

"Their form seems to be in-and-out. They won at Whitchurch in the cup and then lost to them at home on Saturday. But we won't worry about them too much, just concentrate on our own game."

With seven replacements allowed there are places on the bench for the first time this season for former Caerphilly back-row man Howard Dawson and tight-head prop Scott Wilson. But another contender, centre Craig Reed, is out of the reckoning until November, recovering from an ankle injury as well as having work commitments.

Updated: 11:54 Friday, September 28, 2001