MALTON & Norton RUFC are still “looking over their shoulders” ahead of a tough challenge tomorrow against North One East mid-table rivals Bridlington.

The Gannock outfit have enjoyed a resurgence in recent weeks, earning 14 points with three wins from four and pulling themselves up from 10th to seventh in that time after having gone seven games without victory, last week earning a try bonus point in a valuable 38-12 home win over Bradford & Bingley.

Spokesman Bill Laidler has attributed this upturn in form to the recovery of the squad from injury but insists that his side are not out of the woods yet as there remains plenty of intrigue at both ends of the table.

There are only 11 points from leaders Penrith down to sixth-placed Bridlington, while the gap is only 15 points from Malt in seventh to bottom side Northern.

The largest points difference in the division lies between Malt and Bridlington, who are separated by 16. And while victory at the weekend would represent another step towards safety, for Laidler it would be nothing more significant than that with the table being as imbalanced as it is now.

He said: “We have benefitted just from having everybody fit. We’ve got a lot of injured players back which has contributed to our upturn in form as we players to choose from to select a team each week.

“We comprehensively beat Bridlington at home earlier in the season (24-0), but it’s going to be tough at the weekend. It’s always a very hard game at Bridlington.

“A win would leave us mid-table. It’s still all to play for at the top and the bottom. All of the bottom eight – including us – are looking over their shoulders.

“We are just going to keep ploughing on to get what we can.”

Laidler predicts that there will be little difference from last week, following in the vein of the last few selections, saying: “There will be few changes. It was like that from two games ago to last week, and it’ll probably be the same again.”

North Premier bottom side Pocklington tomorrow are scheduled to visit second-placed Harrogate who are unbeaten since early December, last winning 39-31 at Sandal.

Pocklington were beaten 17-10 at home by Kirkby Lonsdale last week and remain five points adrift of second-bottom Birkenhead Park.

Yorkshire One leaders York are still five points clear at the summit despite having been in cup action the last two weeks. Last Saturday, they became RFU Intermediate Cup Northern Champions with a 25-11 home quarter-final win against Bowdon.

Tomorrow they host ninth-placed Keighley, whose last game ended in a 33-31 home loss to basement side Wheatley Hills.

Strugglers Selby face an important test tomorrow at Wheatley Hills, looking to build on their 28-18 win over North Ribblesdale two weeks ago.

York RI tomorrow travel to Yorkshire Shield bottom side Thirsk whose only points in the competition have come from a 0-0 draw against Halifax and a try bonus in last week’s 37-23 loss at Sheffield Oaks, while RI were beaten 32-17 by leaders Bramley Phoenix last time out.