By dint of us playing Sandal at Sandal this weekend we may have something to say in deciding the final running order, but possibly you would have to say it comes down to a straight shoot out between Chester who host Rossendale and Harrogate who face a charabanc trip up to Billingham.

Chester are very much in control of their own destiny. A five point win will seem them finally shedding the bridesmaid’s outfit; Whatever Harrogate do at Billingham the title will be on its way to Chester. Should Chester falter and only tumble home with a four pointer and the Gate trouser the full five, then the title will be on its way to the Old Folly as the North Yorkshire side have won more games.  Any scenario where the Gate and Chester end up on the same points would see our favourite club from North Yorkshire claim the title.

If both sides lose, then obviously the cheeky chaps of Sandal can start to climb into the equation.  The most points Sandal can finish the season on is 105; if Chester or Harrogate or both those clubs also finish on 105 then the title would go to Sandal as they would have won the most with 22 victories. Any scenario where three sides end up tied at the end of the season will see the crown being worn by Sandal.

Over the previous three seasons there has only been one year, 2009/10, where there was anything like this amount of interest going into the final weekend. That year Morley and Stockport ended proceedings separated by 2 points, with Morley leaping up into the division above. Unfortunately for the Maroons they came clattering back down that very same staircase after only one season and shot through the trap door at the end of last term. Morley may well be among us again next season as they are currently second in North 1 East, behind champions, Beverley.

Last season the division was decided by 21 points, as Darlington Mowden Park galloped away with the title, leaving Rossendale in their wake. The year before it was Stockport playing the part of the dish which ran away with the spoon by 19 league points, with Chester left at the altar.

The games that will sort men from boys, wheat from chaff and other things that need separating are as I said earlier, Chester entertaining Rossendale, North Yorkshire’s Finest away at Billingham and Sandal hosting The Bees.

These fixtures are the reverse of those which began our season. The reverse results were:

Chester beat Rossendale at Marl Pits by 32-23; The Gate beat Mr Ingham by 35-21 and Sandal beat the Bees by 20-5. None of those results give us too much of an insight into how we can expect things to pan out on Saturday afternoon. Rossendale are one of the form teams in the division right now, but all their winning gets done on the Marl Pits Boating Lake. They have 9 wins on the water, but only two away from the mangrove. Chester has won eleven from twelve on their own patch, rattling in 577 points while they were about it. Chester has not scored less than 30 in a home fixture this season although Rossendale have also managed to run in more than 30 on the road 6 times this season.

Away from the Old Folly, North Yorkshire’s Finest has only lost two games on the road this season, with Chester and Sandal both claiming the spoils against their near rivals.  The Gate have not been the most liberal of attacking forces away from home this term, having only broken past 30 points twice – last time out on the road against Percy Park (42) and then away at Penrith. This lack of firepower may possibly be their undoing again as they have to get the five point win to achieve 108 league points and make Chester have to collect five too. Billingham’s last home fixture was a decent result, beating Burnage, but their home form overall is only fair to middling with eight wins from 12 and an average points per match somewhere south of 30.

Sandal are clearly playing at the top of their game and will be absolutely fizzing after their win up at The Gate last Saturday. As it is a Yorkshire derby, perhaps some of the form book can be chucked out of the window, but even as a one eyed member of the Bee Nation I am finding it difficult to tear a hole in Sandal’s superb form since they lost at Chester in their seventh game of the season.  Sandal lost three times on the road in their opening seven fixtures, with Rossendale and Lymm also victorious. As we know they have not lost since and are the only club in the division undefeated on their own patch.

It looks a bit like Chester as a champions and Harrogate in the play off to me, but that’s just my humbler than humble opine.  Oh and Sandal to be very close and deserving of a huge cigar.

It will be interesting to see how things pan out up at the Old Folly if The Gate fail to win the promotion play off. Will they be able to keep together or indeed strengthen their squad if they face another year in this division? Securing the brass needed to develop their new Folly must be top priority in the next couple of years, although if they aren’t paying their players, I suppose that won’t really affect the ability of the club to keep together a competitive squad.

Those of you who are following all the potential ups and downs of who will be our opponents next season will know that things remain unresolved up and down the country and the position is not helped by the fact that Rugby Lions folded and left one of the Midlands league short.

We know we are saying ta-ta to West Hartlepool, Birkenhead Park and Kendal. We know for sure that Beverley will coming up the other way to take one league position. Morley will face a play off to join us playing either Sale or Liverpool St Helens. One of those two clubs will also be joining us as champions of North 2 West next season.

Dropping down into our midst will be Huddersfield and I think pretty certainly Westoe, although they are not mathematically doomed.  It looks like Stockport are also for the chop, but it looks like they may be level transferred into the Midlands, as Lymm might also be, due to the number of Northern Division clubs which qualify for this league next season.

See you on the other side.
 
Scoop