BARNSLEY RUFC visit fellow bottom two side Thirsk on Saturday after suffering a tenth successive defeat.
The Shaw Laners went down 80-0 at leaders Old Otliensians in Yorkshire League Three.
They are second-bottom with six points from 11 games which is the halfway point of the season.
Barnsley are six points behind the teams above them and four clear of bottom club Thirsk who are the only side they have beaten so far this campaign.
The Shaw Laners – who have had up to 22 players out during an injury crisis – now travel to the North Yorkshire club. Thirsk lost 25-24 to fourth-placed Wheatley Hills in their last game.
Coach Tom Kittrick said: “It’s a must win game. It’s a ten-pointer.
“Thirsk, like us, are one of the only teams in this league who don’t pay their players.
“You can’t guarantee people will be available every week.
“A lot of their players are in the forces so you never know how many of them will be available. We got our only win against them and they will be desperate to get revenge and go above us.
“We think we will definitely have six players back and hopefully a couple more than that.”
Kittrick believes his side can stay up despite their bad run.
“I think we will turn the corner.
“We have three weeks off over Christmas to get some bodies back. We’re desperate for that.
“Once we have key players back in key positions, we should be able to get over the line for some wins.
“We still don’t know how many will go down. The league have said they will decide at the end of the season, depending on who is coming up. We just want to finish outside the top two.
“We’re pretty positive. We can’t control what is out of our control.
“We will just keep fighting.”
Barnsley were mising 22 players on Saturday. Kittrick said: “Our physio has had to take on another day because of all the players she is having to treat.
“We had two flankers as centres and players who have barely played before in other positions.
“We played some really good stuff at times and our shape was there.
“People out of position didn’t make the right decisions but that’s not really on them. The scoreline looks terrible but, after 15 minutes, it was 0-0 then they identified one of our young wingers was a bit lost and they scored eight tries through him and we had no other wingers on the bench. It was a long day.”
Barnsley Ladies are due to visit Lichfield on Sunday in Championship North One.
Meanwhile, Wath won 31-17 at home to Leodiensian in Yorkshire Division One.
Sam Levitt, Sean Hopper and Matt Jenkins touched down and there was a penalty try. Jack Whitlam kicked all three conversions plus a penalty.
Wath are sixth with six wins and five losses from the first half of the season.
They are now due to visit Wensleydale.
Dearne Valley stayed top of Yorkshire Division Four after a 57-12 win at home to Hessle. There were two tries each for Luke Christmas and Corey Cox with one for Daniel Cribbis, Sam Oxley, Arron Kite and Steve Mason. Steve Shaw kicked 17 points. Dearne are a point clear at the top of the table after winning eight of nine games. They are due to visit bottom club Knottingley on Saturday.
Wortley are second bottom after losing 26-5 at Stockbridge.
They visit Hessle on Saturday.
