ANOTHER seven tries against and none for in their latest run-out against Preston left hapless Huddersfield wondering where they go from here.

And with victories elsewhere in the League last weekend for some of their main rivals – including fourth from bottom Birmingham & Solihull who won at Hull to leave them 23 points clear of Huddersfield – the probable answer now is down a division.

There are plenty of matches yet to play and points still up for grabs against lower-ranked teams, but the need for a miracle is becoming more desperate with each passing week.

Today’s visit to Darlington Mowden Park is unlikely to provide any solace for Dan Hyde’s beleaguered troops, before Huddersfield then embark on a nine-match run-in against the division’s lesser sides, starting with next Saturday’s return visit to the North East to tackle Westoe.

That is a nailed-on must-win game and anything other than victory in South Shields will rubber-stamp their demotion.

That said, however, teams have escaped from worse situations than Huddersfield find themselves in, and for sure, hard-working skipper Nick Sharpe and his boys will not concede until it is mathematically impossible to survive.

And if they can start a revival at Westoe, then who knows?

The next team Field face at Lockwood Park is the team they really need to overhaul, Birmingham & Solihull, followed by the re-arranged home game against Sheffield Tigers, before trips to Dudley Kingswinford and Hull (both games that Hyde’s side are well capable of beating despite being on the road).

Stockport visit Lockwood Park on April 6, which ought to provide a home win – Huddersfield really should have won in Cheshire last November – before a difficult three-game finish with visits to Bromsgrove and Caldy sandwiching the final home game against Luctonians on April 20.

Realistically, Huddersfield must win at least seven of those nine – with some bonus points for good measure – to have any chance of avoiding the drop.

Unless of course, the RFU in their infinite wisdom decide to shift the goalposts (not unheard of but unlikely) and decide to relegate just two clubs from National II North.

That would make Huddersfield’s task much easier, as both Westoe (second bottom) and Stockport (third bottom) are only four points better off than Hyde’s team and could be overtaken before the season ends.

‘It’s never over until the fat lady sings’, so the saying goes. Let’s hope we don’t hear the anguished tones of an overweight Geordie bird emanating from Wood Terrace, Westoe, next Saturday teatime.