Although only narrowly beaten at Nottingham,  heavy defeats by the Welsh and, last week at Exeter, plus a disappointing home defeat to Coventry, have seen them slip to 12th place, and on all known form, there is little prospect of improving their position this coming Saturday. All of Sedgeley's fixtures have been high scoring affairs, and I can't see this week being any exception.

After stuttering through phases of the early games, Leeds are now beginning to look like a side more than good enough to gain promotion, and last weeks display in Richmond was by all accounts the best display of the season. They are attacking with purpose, and defending with a discipline that has seen them keep a clean sheet in the last two fixtures.

There will, no doubt, be changes made to the Leeds line up this week, but the ones I anticipate will not significantly weaken the side. Providing everybody axcept Villi is available, I expect to see Blackett, Henry Paul, Strange, Clark, Lund and Danny Paul in the squad, along with any 2 or 3 of Armstrong, Boyde, White, Freer, Wackett and Denton, and I am sure whoever is selected, all 22 players will have a gallop on Saturday. A rest for Mac, Fourie and Oakley would not go amiss.

Hopefully there will be a good gathering of Carnegie fans making the relatively short trip, and cheering the lads on to a pretty convincing win.  I get little enjoyment from seeing one sided games, but I think we will see a very professional performance from Leeds, the bonus point try will be secured within the first 30 minutes, and the extra fitness and speed of the professional side will be too much for the hosts, and I expect a big Leeds win.

I would expect our closest challengers to pick up comfortable wins this week as well, (although Ex have a tricky trip to Plymouth), but we are firmly in the driving seat, and it is for them to worry about us. To be 5 points clear of the field after only  6 games is better than most of us could have hoped for having seen the opening fixtures, and, yes, there is a long way to go, but we are just that bit nearer than our rivals. We should not lose any momentum this week.
 

Bookmark or share this story with:

• Digg
• Delicious
• Facebook
• Reddit
• Stumbleupon

SPORTNETWORK SPECIALS