MALTON & Norton RUFC face a “must-win” fixture tomorrow when they come up against fellow North One East relegation candidates Dinnington.

The table is tightly-packed throughout, with the top six separated by seven points, and only eight from seventh down to second-bottom, with the largest gap being the 18 points between the two packs.

Malt remain on 36 points in 10th spot after last week’s 20-8 defeat at Penrith, three behind seventh-placed Bradford & Bingley, but only five ahead of second-bottom Dinnington, who are tomorrow’s hosts.

Following their run of four consecutive defeats, the South Yorkshire outfit have won their last two fixtures, emerging 9-5 victors last time out at Cleckheaton. Meanwhile, Malt had the chance to move to the top of the mini-league last Saturday having beaten title-chasers Morpeth the week before.

And although Malt are not quite down in the mire just yet, the club are conscious that their situation could change drastically should they drop too many more points.

Bill Laidler, the club’s secretary, said: “It was a poor performance against Penrith. The week before we were great, but there we just weren’t at the races.

“Our aim now is to get out of the relegation zone. Tomorrow is a must-win game to give us some breathing space.

“We know what to expect from them – we’ve played them a few times before, and teams don’t tend to change that much.

“They’re tough up front and we know they’re hard to beat at home.

“A win would do us a great favour.”

The team will have a very similar look to last week’s, with openside flanker Sam Triffit the only absence through prior commitments.

Pocklington are still bottom of North Premier after their 28-22 loss at Ilkley. They have this weekend off before they host runaway leaders Preston Grasshoppers the Saturday after.

Yorkshire One leaders York remain 10 points clear at the summit after their 28-12 home win over Hullensians last Saturday. Tomorrow, they travel to Gateshead in the RFU Intermediate Cup.

Gateshead are currently fifth in Durham/Northumberland One division, having won 10 and lost five of their 15 games.

They have won two and lost two this year, last week going down 23-13 at home to sixth-placed Horden & Peterlee, but the week before, they were 54-8 winners at second-bottom Redcar.

The division’s strugglers Selby are away at York’s vanquished opponents from last week, Hullensians. Selby fell 31-10 to second-placed Beverley last time out, while the hosts’ defeat was their seventh in a row.

York RI have entered the Yorkshire Shield play-off league after finishing in the lower half of the South East division despite their 20-17 win at Sheffield Oaks last Saturday.

They sit third in the table, a point off the top, as they have brought with them the haul they earned against fellow Shield competitors Oaks and Hessle, against whom they won three out of four.

RI have a weekend without fixture before returning to action the following Saturday at home to second-placed Bramley Phoenix.