JASON Ramshaw will call on local knowledge to warn York City Knights of the threat posed by Featherstone Rovers.

The Knights assistant-boss lives in the village of Ackworth, a few miles from Featherstone, and comes into contact with the Post Office Road club, who visit Huntington Stadium tomorrow for a do-or-die Northern Rail Cup clash.

And he reckons they will have nothing to lose in their bid to overhaul the Knights and Sheffield Eagles and get the second automatic qualification place in group six behind Hull KR.

"I live out that way and so I get a bit of feedback now and again," said Ramshaw.

"They're pleased with how things are going and they're talking about getting automatic qualification - if they beat us by, say, 12 or 13 points and Hull KR get a decent score, they'll go through.

"That's going to give them quite a bit of incentive and they've got nothing to lose."

Featherstone, relegated from National League One last season, lost their opening four games of this year's Northern Rail competition, including a 22-16 home defeat to York, but an 18-10 win at Sheffield has renewed hope.

Said Ramshaw: "Their form has improved and we're conscious they will be a threat and tough opposition.

"Josh Weeden's come back in and he's obviously a big player who organises them. He seemed to be the difference against Sheffield."

Rovers boss David Hobbs also has Carl Hughes to call on again. The former Knight, a thorn in York's side when the teams last met, has recovered from injury, as has another key man, Nathan Batty.

The Knights are likely to have Rob Spicer and Paul Clarke back to boost the threequarter line after head injuries ruled them out of the Hull KR loss last week. Late checks will also be made on Mark Blanchard, who dislocated a thumb last week, as well as James Ward (ankle) and Lee Lingard (hand).

Ramshaw added: "We've got to take the positives from our first-half performance last week and do work on what was a bit of a collapse. We'll be ready for a tough game."

The Knights are behind Sheffield on points-difference and, barring a shock win for the Eagles in Hull, a victory would guarantee progression and achieve the club's first goal.

"Our target was qualifying from the group stages and it's important we achieve that," said Ramshaw, when asked if the club was prioritising the upcoming NL1 term.

"If you get into the draw for the knockouts, anything can happen.

"We want to go well in every competition.

"It's good for morale as well but we just want to do as well as we can. Some people have said the Northern Rail is a good warm-up but we're approaching it really seriously and we want to go as far as we can."

Northern Rail Cup group six

York City Knights v Featherstone Rovers

(at Huntington Stadium)

Knights: from Blaymire, Dunmore, Clarke, Farrell, Spicer, Law, Rhodes, Thorman, Hasty, Bates, Liddell, Bovill, Sullivan, Buckley, Smith, Golden, Paterson, Elston, O'Loughlin, Blanchard, Ward, Lingard.

Rovers: Larvin, Moss, Sutton, Kirmond, Wray, Weeden, Fawcett, Tonks, Dobson, Dickens, Dooler, Crouch, Nicholson, Swinson, Shillabeer, Sutcliffe, Carlton, C Hughes, Batty, P Hughes.

Referee: Colin Morris (Huddersfield).

Kick-off: 3pm.

Updated: 08:44 Saturday, March 25, 2006