Sheffield Eagles will be looking to arrest an alarming slide when they go head-to-head with the Bulls at Saltergate.

John Kear's charges have collected just one point - against strugging Salford - in their last four outings and you have to go back to early May against Halifax for their last triumph.

The lean spell has put a major dent in their top five hopes which were further damaged in midweek at Wigan when inspirational scrum-half Mark Aston was injured in a 28-0 defeat at Central Park.

Aston, who aggravated a groin injury, will now almost certainly face surgery and a long lay-off.

"It looks like an operation now. It's gone completely," said Kear who already has a number of casualties.

The situation was hardly helped when the Eagles were forced to face the Warriors just three days after their defeat at Gateshead while Wigan had had a five day break.

"If Super League do want games in midweek they should schedule a full round so that everybody plays and we are all on the same level playing field.

"We now have to play Bradford and they have just had a week off and we've just had a really tough game. You're behind the black ball straight away."

Among those hoping to return to action against the Bulls are former Odsal favourite Dave Watson and attacking Fijian full-back Vaisale Sovatabua.

Despite their injury problems Kear still has a talented squad at his disposal and they have proved awkward opponents for the Bulls in the past.

They only lost 18-6 at Odsal on the opening day of the Super League season and in they rattled up an impressive 38-18 win at Odsal on their previous visit.

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