Heworth face a massive four-pointer on Saturday knowing a victory is needed to give them any real hope of beating the drop into the National Conference League basement division, writes Peter Martini.

The Villagers, lying second bottom of division one, entertain East Leeds, who are two points and one place above them.

With bottom club Millom seemingly doomed, a defeat this weekend would leave Heworth looking odds on the join them, while victory would bring both East Leeds and fourth-bottom Askam back into the mire.

With four games left to play - East Leeds, high-flying Siddal away, Millom at home and Wigan St Jude's at home - Heworth have set their sights on three victories to claw away from the trapdoor.

Spokesman Ken Sykes said: "Winning three of those games will give us a good chance. We can do that and that's the aim. We have to win two games anyway to have any chance of staying up.

"This is obviously a crucial game. We're in the thick of it at the bottom and if we don't win this one we'll be in deep trouble."

Centre Nikki Wilson has been training this week and should return after injury ruled him out for a fortnight, while full-back Rich Darling, who turned out for York Wasps earlier in the season, and forward Steve Barnard could also come back from injury.

Sykes said: "We should have a reasonably strong side out. But they drew with leaders Leigh East (16-16) last week so they must be playing pretty well. They're battling as well so they're going to make it difficult."

Defeat would leave Heworth bound for division two, where they would join cross-city rivals York Acorn and New Earswick All Blacks, although the latter's future in the league is in doubt should they fail to get out of the re-election zone. Neither Acorn nor All Blacks have a game this weekend.

Updated: 13:03 Thursday, April 19, 2001