Rugby League: Mayfield preview

Luke Fowden (pictured) and James McDade will be back in the reckoning

Rochdale Mayfield has eight games left in the Kingstone Press NCL Premier Division this season and six of those are at home.

They begin with a home fixture on Saturday afternoon (20 July) against top of the league Wath Brow Hornets. Brow have had a good season up to now but have still lost four games in what is so far a very open competition.

As usual, they have a big set of forwards and a mobile half back pairing who move them about the pitch. They are a free scoring side and Sam Butterworth’s team will have their work cut out to keep them at bay. However, with those four defeats against them, they are definitely a side that can be beaten.

Butterworth and assistant Steve Wood will be looking at making changes on Saturday afternoon as they try to halt the run of defeats and retain premier division status. They will welcome back Luke Fowden and James McDade, two players who have had a positive impact on the side.

Commenting on last week’s performance against Leigh Miners, Butterworth said: "Once again we played well in spells, but to be honest, we had 60 poor minutes and that's not good enough at any level, never mind the top flight.

“On Saturday, we will look to snuff out their forwards and get our pack on top. If we can do that, we know we have the backs that can exploit the spaces that will be created.

“There is no hiding from the fact that we need to start winning games and this would be a good time to do that."

Fixture 20 July

• NCL Premier Division: Mayfield v Wath Brow KO 2.30pm