Selby have their sights set on breaking into the top six of Yorkshire One when they travel to Beverley.

The in-form Sandhill Lane club have pieced together the sort of run in 2002 that would rival the title-chasing elite - losing just once to leaders Hull since the turn of the year.

Having at one stage been staring relegation in the face and lying bottom of the table with Pocklington, Selby have turned the season on its head to move to relative safety.

And a victory over Beverley, who are just one point behind them, would keep Selby on course to leapfrog Sheffield Tigers in sixth spot.

But team boss Richard Besley knows it is going to be a hard-fought encounter at Beaver Park.

"It will be a tough game at Beverley, no-one goes there and expects to have the points presented to them," he said.

"We know we are going to have to fight for the points.

"They beat us earlier in the season, so we know what they are like and what to expect. We will go in better prepared."

The club are not set to make drastic alternations to the side, although Duncan Phillips could return to the back-row with Paul Randall dropping to the bench.

York have the perfect chance to return to winning ways when they entertain relegation-threatened West Park Bramhope at Clifton Park.

West Park's fortunes have mirrored York's in recent years. Both climbed to the dizzy heights of North One only to fall back again when professionalism came into the game.

West Park are now languishing only one point ahead of bottom team Pocklington.

York, in need of points themselves to ensure safety as four teams could be relegated, have Matt Halifax in the second row in place of Chris Dempsey who moves to the replacements' bench.

James Arkle, who was unavailable last week, returns to the scrum-half berth in place of Nigel Durham and Simon Humphries will start at prop in preference to Nick Hare.

They may be bottom of the league, but Pocklington travel to Pontefract optimistic that they could survive.

With doubts over how many sides will in fact be relegated, Pocklington have set themselves an aim of jumping above fellow strugglers West Park Bramhope.

Team manager Phil Gilbank said: "Nobody knows what will happen until May. One side could go down or it could be four - it all depends. We are just aiming to finish above West Park.

"Our hold is tenuous, and it is likely that we will go down, but it is not impossible for us to stay up - it is just too complicated to work out."

The Percy Road side have their collective fingers crossed to see if Phil Thompson and Dan Clappison make it back from Lanzarote unscathed.

Sam Allen is definitely out due to an interview in Bath, while a congenital ankle defect rules out hooker Matt Moore, with Alex Brown set for his league debut as his replacement.

Mike Elwine, a former Bourgoin flanker, is also back after travelling to Paris for the international last weekend.

The seeds of recovery could continue to flourish for York RI if they can inflict defeat on bottom-placed Hemsworth.

The Railwaymen gave their hopes of avoiding the drop a massive shot in the arm when they held off the challenge of Castleford 7-3.

And consistency could be the key, with the New Lane club hoping to stick with the same XV that beat Cas, although the club are waiting to check on any possible injuries.

Team spokesman Nigel Lowray said: "It is a important match for us. It is going to be a real dogfight at the bottom and we've just got to win as many games as we can to finish as high as we can."

There are no major injury doubts for Malton and Norton's journey to lowly-placed Roundhegians in Yorkshire Three.

David Webster is still sidelined with a calf muscle injury, but he was missing from the club's rout 123-7 of Wath.

And after this enormous victory margin, Malton coach Pat Stephenson will be stressing the point that it is important not to allow complacency to take over.

Harrogate know they must pick up maximum points at home to Fylde if they are to remain on course to achieve their aim of their highest-placed finish in the league standings.

The Claro Roaders have for the past two seasons finished fifth in National Two - their best-ever position to date.

However, with Ralph Zoing's men currently lying fourth and tomorrow's visitors Fylde a point behind in fifth, they could go a long way to achieving their goal.

Team manager Graham Siswick said: "With five games to go, this is getting the billing as an early play-off for fourth spot.

"A victory would put us three points clear with three of our last four games against teams in the bottom four."

Peter Taylor will see his ever-present run brought to an end, with an ankle injury set to rule out the experienced second row.

Taylor, who has made 195 league appearances, will be replaced by his RAF colleague Paul Clark, who will play in his 50th league game.

On the back row, Oliver Cook is unavailable, so Rijan Slater steps up off the bench.

The replacements will see flanker Chris Horner and winger Jeremy Marr promoted from the Georgians after impressing in recent weeks.

Updated: 11:59 Friday, March 08, 2002