Back row Dave Pawson is expected to overcome a knee injury and bolster Underbank Rangers’ bid for two points against Rochdale Mayfield at The Cross.

Richard Knight’s Holme Valley side are seventh in the National Conference Premier, three places higher than their cross-Pennine rivals, as they bid to make the most of home advantage before targeting the upcoming derby against Siddal.

Courtney Allette is back in consideration against Mayfield, along with Tom Stringer, Tom England, Craig Williams, Jack Thompson and Terry Green, so Knight is selecting from 22.

He is without Luke Roberts, however, who has decided to take some time away from the game, and also prop Jordan Williams, who is part of the leadership group but who has a leg injury.

Underbank Rangers Courtney Allette

“All in all, while it’s disappointing to be without Luke Roberts – who is a great guy around the club – and Jordan Williams through injury, we are in a pretty good place for this time of year,” said Knight, whose side drew 14-14 with Kells last time out.

“Especially with having a week off before Siddal, we can get Dave Pawson patched up and out there – he was one of our better players last week – and give it a real crack.

“Mayfield are a bit below us in the table and won only once all season, which is strange because they finished third last season and maybe should have made the Grand Final.

“I think there might have been a bit of uproar over there, but they are probably not far off springing a couple of victories, so we have to be ready.

“Having cost ourselves a point against Kells, this week is massive for us to try and put two points on the board at home, against a team lower in the league than us, and put us in good stead for the Siddal derby in a couple of weeks.”

So what exactly does Knight want from his charges in pursuit of a third win of the campaign?

“We just need to be a bit smarter,” he said.

“We’ve been pretty dumb so far because we can’t play 80 minutes.

“In the first half against Kells we were terrible. In the second half we didn’t concede a try, which was pleasing, but the only problem was we’d conceded a couple in the first half which, if we had been smarter, we shouldn’t have.

“They completed 95% of sets and we completed 65% which, when you are playing in the Premier Division and you are on the back of an 11-5 penalty count, you are just not giving yourself the opportunity to win.

“That’s what it’s about, we were on the wrong end of those figures last week. Last year we managed to get the wins but, this year and at this level, it’s more difficult to pick up victories.

“This week it’s a priority that we play for 80 minutes, we look after the ball and we respect the penalty count. I’m really confident that if we give ourselves a fair crack at both of those things the result will look after itself.”