The Betfred League One regular season comes to a close this weekend, as some teams look ahead to the play-offs, some look to qualify, and some aim to finish their year on a high.
Things get underway on Saturday with the battle for second place, as North Wales Crusaders host Swinton Lions. The sides are level on thirty points with Swinton edging it on points difference, but it’ll be Allan Coleman’s men looking to make amends after suffering two defeats at the hands of their opponents so far this year.
The Crusaders got the better of Swinton in the Betfred Challenge Cup Third Round back in February, before taking the two points back to North Wales after their Round 4 win at Heywood Road in April.
It may also be a memorable day for North Wales record appearance and points holder, Tommy Johnson, who can break his own season records from 2015 – the fullback needs five goals and six points to reach the 109 goals & 266 points mark that currently betters any other tallies in the club’s history.
Sunday’s action begins with Cornwall’s trip to Midlands Hurricanes. Both sides will look to end their year on a positive note, with Cornwall hoping to avenge the heavy defeat dished out to them by the Hurricanes back in Round 3.
Next, Doncaster welcome London Skolars to the Eco-Power Stadium. A phenomenal back-end of the season cemented a play-off spot for The Dons, with full focus now on avoiding dropping below fourth place.
A third-place finish is unlikely but still possible for Doncaster – a high-scoring win coupled with a heavy North Wales defeat may do it.
Skolars will hope to add the finishing touches to the rich vein of form they’ve shown in the latter stages of the season – the capital club have won three of the last four games and find themselves in eighth place.
For what they hope will be their last Betfred League One game for a while, newly crowned champions Keighley Cougars travel to the Crown Oil Arena to take on Rochdale Hornets.
Keighley may already have their title wrapped up and promotion sealed, but an historic undefeated season is still at stake – it’s hard to envision the champions letting up with such a feat still possible, and replicating the performance that saw them secure a 40-16 win over their opponents back in Round 8 will no doubt be the aim.
For Rochdale, they’ll be looking to force their way out of the elimination final – a win coupled with a Doncaster defeat would see them jump to fourth place where they’d compete in the more favourable qualifying final instead. Can they give their promotion hopes a boost or will the Cougars make it a perfect 20?
The last but undoubtedly the biggest game of the weekend is Hunslet vs Oldham – it’s a winner takes all clash for the final play-off spot as sixth-place meets seventh, with just two points between them.
Oldham boast the better points difference despite being two points behind, so a win would see them leapfrog the South Leeds outfit into the play-offs.
Hunslet looked nailed on for a play-off spot at one point, but a torrid run of form has thrown that into doubt – a five-game losing streak has given the Roughyeds the initiative when hope was petering out.
It was a gripping encounter when the sides met back in Round 2, but little did we know that a 22-22 draw that included an outstanding second-half Hunslet comeback would set up a mouth-watering final day clash – it’s a season defining day for both clubs.
Betfred League One – Round 22 Fixtures
Saturday:
- North Wales Crusaders vs Swinton Lions, 14:30
Sunday:
- Midlands Hurricanes vs Cornwall, 15:00
- Doncaster vs London Skolars, 15:00
- Rochdale Hornets vs Keighley Cougars, 15:00
- Oldham vs Hunslet, 15:00
