By L Hammond
Huddersfield face their most important away journey of the season as they travel to face lowly Bilingham.
‘Field now know that to secure automatic promotion they need to win all of their remaining fixtures, following last weekend’s dramatic loss at the hands of Beverley.
‘Field missed two last minute kicks through the boot of Full-Back Tom Hodson to lose the game by a single point and hand the initiative in the title push to promotion rivals Stockport.
With three games left and only three points to recover, ‘Field know the task is still in their hands and First Team Manager Lee Paxman is expecting his side to bounce straight back from last week’s defeat: “The lads are determined to put things write and the one positive is that any time we have lost this season we have bounced back straight away. Our away form has been very good and we will take that into the game this weekend”.
There are several changes to the side for this week’s fixture. In the forwards Adam Lancaster comes in at hooker which allows experienced prop Tony Stringwell to move back to his familiar position of tighthead prop. Bob Sykes is promoted from the bench to replace Ross Thornton at blind-side flanker.
In the backs the experienced Elliot Hodgson returns to the wing. Dan Jeffery and Joel Hinccliffe will be the half-back partners for the first time this season, with Paxman showing faith in the pair which ignited last week’s stunning revival against Beverley: “The backline starts this week how it finished last week with Dan and Joel at half backs. The two played really well off each other and added a buzz to our play which we needed to get back in the game”.
With a win needed at all costs to keep automatic promotion alive for Huddersfield, Paxman believes that his side will need to find their best form secure victory this weekend: “Billingham are scrapping for their lives at the bottom of the league and we must be at our best otherwise will be staring down the barrel of the gun for the last two games.”
