WHARFEDALE coach Peter Hartley is thankful for small mercies these days, (writes Tony Simpson).

The fact that all his players came through last weekend's game without any injury problems - including centre Chris Malherbe after a long lay-off - is a boon for the Greens, who have a day off tomorrow from league action and will be training in the morning in preparation for next weekend's crucial visit to Nottingham.

The prefix 'crucial' is somewhat superfluous these days where Wharfedale games are concerned. They have four games to play and every one is crucial if they are to hold onto their National Division Two status.

While that much is certain, the fine detail of what may happen is an absolute nightmare for anyone at The Avenue to predict. Rubic himself would have been hard pressed to devise a scenario with more options.

"We might need to win all four to stay up, or three might be enough," says Hartley. "But even four might not do the trick if other results go against us. I haven't a clue any more about what will happen. The form-book doesn't exist now as far as I'm concerned.

"All we can do is aim to produce our best and hope it will be good enough. I'm quite pleased about the shape of the side now and I think we've done a good job in dealing with some of the bigger teams who like to stand things up and drive at you through the maul all the time.

"That's what I expect from teams like Nottingham and Kendal and I'm optimistic we can cope. But the form of the other sides is less easy to predict than the way they will play.

"To be realistic, our chances of staying up are no better than 50/50 and we will definitely need to play very well not to go down.

"That said, a team like Fylde can have a key part to play since they have matches against Launceston and Kendal. You can never be sure how they will play in the closing weeks of the season. Last season, for example, Waterloo played some of their best rugby when they were doomed and hopefully Fylde will do the same and do us a good turn.

"But every game is vital for us and all our opponents will be determined to do their best. Nottingham gave their confidence a real boost with last week's win at Doncaster, who in turn will come to us keen to avenge a hefty home defeat at the start of the season.

"Kendal may also be in a position where to beat us at home would give them a chance of survival, while Harrogate is always a keen derby tussle and a trip to Claro Road on the last day will be a tough finale.

"The interesting thing is that the matches against these four teams earlier in the season brought us three wins and a single point defeat. Now that we are down to the last four games and the pressure is on, that same sequence of games represents a tough test.

"To be honest, I never thought we'd get to this situation, but we are and we have to deal with it. I still believe the side is in good shape now, better than earlier in the season, but from a stress point of view, I have to say that wondering whether we can get from third to second is a lot less demanding than where we are now.