Slip-ups put Hunslet in the hands of play-off rivals

Last week’s 46-10 home loss to Newcastle Thunder left Hunslet seventh in Betfred League One, two places outside the play-offs with only one game remaining in the regular season.

But they trail sixth-placed Oldham only on points difference and though Whitehaven, who are fifth, are two points clear, their ‘for and against’ could be overhauled so Hunslet need to pick up a big win today and hope their two rivals lose.

Oldham take on London Skolars at Ealing Trailfinders at 5.30pm today and Whitehaven are away to league leaders York City Knights, who will be crowned champions if they win, tomorrow afternoon.

“We’re not dead in the water,” insisted Hunslet coach Gary Thornton.

“If Oldham win at London it’s all over because their points difference is miles better than ours, but there’s only 42 points between us and Whitehaven so if we win at Coventry by 20-30 and they lose at York by 20 we could finish above them.

“It’s not a cricket score, we just need to win convincingly and then hope London and York both do us a favour.”

Hunslet have lost their last two matches by the same scoreline and Thornton admitted: “It is disappointing we are having to rely on other teams losing.

“We have blown a couple of games that have put us in this situation, but it is what it is.

“We have to win and then see what happens.”

Coventry are third from bottom, but have won six times this season and can be difficult opponents on their own pitch.

“We have got to be better,” Thornton stressed.

“We are struggling a bit in the halves, Cain Southernwood is definitely out with concussion so we’ll probably have to move Ryan Wright there, but we have got a few players back.

“Matty Nicholson, Lewis Reed and Michael Haley are all back so they will strengthen us in the middle unit.

“We just want to finish the regular season as well as we can, put in a good performance and hopefully the scoreboard will take care of itself if we do that.”