Season on the line: Why Hunslet are in exactly same situation as neighbours Leeds Rhinos

Going into Sunday’s last round of the Betfred League One campaign, the Parksiders are two points ahead of hosts Oldham, but have an inferior for and against.

Victory will see them take the final place in play-offs to decide the second promotion spot - behind league leaders Keighley Cougars - but defeat would bring their season to a disappointing end.

A five-match losing run has left Hunslet in a precarious position, but coach Alan Kilshaw took positives from last week’s 32-20 home defeat by Doncaster.

“The half-back combination between Patch Walker and Matty Beharrell is certainly developing,” he said.

“They’ve only played together three times and they’re increasingly effective, while Jordan Paga worked well with them at full-back

“New signing Jamie Greenwood looked good at hooker, so our spine is looking strong.

“Overall,we need to be more clinical, but we’re ready for Oldham, who we have a good record against.”

Hunslet led 20-12 at the interval against Doncaster and assessing what went wrong, Kilshaw said: “I was a bit surprised by the mood in the dressing room at half-time, after we’d had much the better of the closing stages of the first half. It was a bit flat.

“Maybe the first half had taken a lot out of the side, then we started the second half with an error, when Jacob Doyle very uncharacteristically spilled a bomb and Doncaster scored in the next play.

“We never really recovered from that, in fact we started chasing the game far too early.

“Two of the Dons’ tries, by their half-backs, were soft, while the one by Jason Tali followed a clear knock-on, which is perhaps the story of our season.

“There must have been four or five allowed against us like that, which have been costly, but the lesson our players have to learn is we have to put calls like that behind us and not get side-tracked by them.”

Hunslet suffered an injury blow, losing winger Wayne Reittie with a ruptured calf muscle.