Harrogate, their promotion hopes in tatters after the heavy defeat at National League division two leaders Bracknell, remain upbeat about the rest of the campaign and are determined to finish as high as possible in the table.

Coach Ralph Zoing is unlikely to experiment too much with fringe players as for the moment he is aiming to stick with his strongest side to finish the season on a high note.

Zoing revealed he might draft in one or two new faces towards the end of the season but there will be no wholesale changes.

The run-in begins with a trek to Esher, a difficult team to beat on their Surrey turf, and Zoing has been forced into a change in the second row.

Although Peter Taylor, who missed the Bracknell debacle, is free from RAF duties and returns, his service colleague Paul Clark is still troubled by the back problem which forced his late withdrawal from the game.

His replacement will be Tim Fforde, who is called up for his debut after a string of impressive performances with the Georgians.

He played a couple of years with Blayden before moving abroad and joined Harrogate when he returned to Britain in mid-season.

The new second-row pairing means John Dudley returns to the back row of the scrum, this time at the expense of blindside flanker Mike Worden who is relegated to the bench.

He will be alongside Rob Wilson and centre Matt Duncombe, fit again after missing five weeks with a hand injury and likely to get on at some point.

Updated: 13:49 Friday, March 09, 2001