MALTON & NORTON RUFC know they can afford no home slip ups at The Gannock as they prepare for the visit of Old Brodleians in Yorkshire One.

The second placed outfit hold a slim four point advantage over Bridlington in third spot in the table and, as the fight for promotion to North One East begins to hot up, club spokesman Bill Laidler has emphasised the importance of head coach Chris Creber's men winning on their own patch.

"It's going to go down to the wire," he said. "During this half of the season, we have more home than away games. We've now got two on the trot with Old Brodleians and Bradford Salem next week and that's very much to our advantage.

"We are very confident about our home games and we are virtually at full strength."

Number eight Josh Heggie remains Malton's only major absentee, with Laidler estimating he would be injured for another couple of weeks, and, on the threat of Old Brodleians, he added: "We won 35-27 there and it was a very good game.

"We have improved a bit since then but there are some decent sides out there and you can go up and down the table on just one result."

Performance has been more important than results this season as York head coach Lee Denham looks to build a side capable of Yorkshire One promotion in the future, but the Clifton Park coach is still revelling in their recent good form.

The Shipton Road outfit have recorded back-to-back wins against Bradford Salem and Selby but their revival will be tested at Heath tomorrow.

Their opponents may be in tenth in the table but have beaten Malton & Norton this year on their own familiar surroundings and are only three points behind Denham's outfit with two games in hand.

They also took a 28-18 victory away from York when the two sides last met in early October.

"It is a building season all the way through but we are playing much better rugby as well," said Denham. "When we played them last time it was a good game and I think they definitely had the upper hand on us.

"We are hoping we can return the favour this time. Hopefully, we can turn up tomorrow, put on a good performance, get a win and move a little bit further up the league."

Denham will be without second row Marc Benson but welcomes second team stalwart Ed Proctor into the ranks.

A versatile player, who can play at prop or at the back of the pack, Denham said of him: "I am really looking forward to seeing him play. We have had some really good feedback from the second team and he is one of those guys I hoped would come through a little bit more.

"He has been working hard and I am hoping we can call on his size and brute force for the reason of the season."