With four rounds of the Regional Two North West campaign remaining, Douglas host second-placed Bowdon at Port-e-Chee on Saturday with both sides having particular goals to aim at.

The visitors slipped away from promotion contention at the end of last season, but if Waterloo, at the top, trip up this time around, Bowdon are only one win in arrears.

So close is the title run-in that Sandbach in third could yet snatch the top spot, especially if Douglas upset the applecart and leave the Bowdon-Waterloo clash on March 8 with even more at stake.

Douglas in seventh have the incentive of catching Altrincham Kersal and equalling their own best finish in the higher leagues, where sixth in the 14-team North One West table in 2018-19, after running with the top five early on, was quite some achievement.

Team news centres on back-row man John Dutnall being unavailable through injury, and a question mark over Percy Hampton’s availability.

Liam Kirkpatrick, Harry Cartwright, Blake Everson and Mark Oldfield still constitutes a handy back-row choice, with Ralph Clarke, Gihard Visagie and Owen Carvin from the front row possibly pushing coach Phil Cringle back to the bench.

Skipper Blake Snell alongside Conor Garland seems to be a solid and cohesive unit, and the Douglas front-five have lacked little in comparison with their opposite numbers.

The Nathan Robson/Josh Duncan axis at half-back is starting to purr, and they can help unlock the scintillating running of James Ross, Harry Hewson, Kyle Martin and Jonty Cope out wide.

All are capable of running amok, as are Conor Stephens and Cal Dentith who constitute a strong finishing team.

There’s 20 league points left to be garnered from this season’s table, and with three home ties and one away to Crewe & Nantwich in 11th, Douglas could yet steal a march.

TONY WILSON-SPRATT