MALTON & Norton RUFC travel to rivals Bridlington tomorrow for the final round of North One East fixtures with local pride at stake – but not much else.

Both sides sit comfortably mid-table, with Brid in seventh on 62 points and Malt a place and five points behind.

The fixture has been rescheduled from the start of March, when Brid lay sixth and 16 points ahead of the Gannock outfit, but a run of seven consecutive defeats saw that advantage scythed.

Malt, meanwhile, have been on the opposite trajectory, lifting themselves up from 10th and real relegation danger with a run of five wins from nine, starting with Morpeth at the end of January and including an impressive 29-23 home win over champions Alnwick.

Spokesman Bill Laidler has credited those two wins as the turning points for the team when they felt they had avoided the drop.

Last week, Malt saw off relegated Northern 52-17 while Brid were beaten 32-12 at West Leeds.

But the climb up the table ends here for Malt – barring an unlikely 63-point victory tomorrow to overturn the points difference.

“Not away at Bridlington,” chuckled Laidler, saying: “Brid haven’t won since February, so they’re on a down.

“There’s nothing at stake for either club. It’s very much an end-of-season game. There’s local pride, but no pressure.

“Northern was a good win. We didn’t need it, but neither did they – we’re already safe and they’re already relegated.

"We’re going to be mid-table, so it’s what we would’ve hoped for.

“When we beat Morpeth the win was a good one and then Alnwick was totally out of the blue.

“We may have a couple of lads out playing cricket on Saturday, but Bridlington will be in the same position.”

Malt are expecting to play a similar side to last week.

Pocklington will be joining Malton & Norton next season following their relegation from North Premier, despite a recent upturn in form.

The last two weeks have seen Pock triple their tally of victories for the campaign, with a 31-20 win at Sandal a fortnight ago before seeing off Wirral 41-28 at home last time out.

Tomorrow sees Pock travel to third-placed Harrogate who won the reverse fixture in November 40-20. Last week, Harrogate put Billingham to the sword in a 45-22 victory.

Also playing North One East rugby next season are Yorkshire One champions York, who suffered only their second defeat of the campaign last Saturday as they went down 52-31 at Beverley.

Tomorrow, York travel to Heath for their second meeting in three weeks. The first ended in a 25-25 draw, which was enough to see the Clifton Park outfit claim the title.

Heath have dropped to fifth after being beaten 35-15 by Middlesbrough last week.

Selby’s Yorkshire One status was just about secured for another season before the previous round of games, but for good measure they beat Moortown 20-12 in their final game of the campaign last Saturday to guarantee it.

The final round of Yorkshire Four Shield has also been played, with a 43-5 Halifax win at Sheffield Oaks seeing York RI finish the campaign in fifth.