H&B hoping for helping hand

Second-placed Hastings & Bexhill will visit Division One basement boys Plumpton on Saturday March 3 with half an eye on the crunch clash between leaders Horsham and third-placed Heathfield & Waldron.

Captain Kit Claughton said: "I think it will be the pivotal weekend in the rest of the season, but we've got to concentrate on going over to Plumpton, getting the win and playing as well as we can."

Last weekend's emphatic 39-5 victory over Crawley extended H&B's winning run to seven matches, while Plumpton have lost all 14 of their games.

H&B ran out easy 75-8 winners in September's reverse fixture, but they are expecting a harder battle on away soil.

"They're going to have improved and when you play away from home you always get a difficult game. But we should have too much for them and we should win the game quite comfortably," added Claughton.

No matter how well H&B do, they are still reliant on Horsham slipping up because they are one point behind the West Sussex club in the race for the sole automatic promotion place.

Claughton commented: "I still believe it's very difficult to win the league with one defeat and I think Heathfield might edge it."

H&B will welcome back Paul Sandeman, but Ben Arnold is out through work commitments and there are doubts over Steve McManus (shoulder) and Pete Mahoney (calf).