West Bowling chasing crucial home victory in survival bid

After a tricky return to the National Conference League top-flight this year, Bowling can almost guarantee their safety with a victory at home today.

It’s been a remarkable turnaround for John Williams’ side, who looked dead and buried at one stage this season.

They won just two of their opening 13 league fixtures and looked as if there was no way back for the West Yorkshire outfit.

However, they’ve claimed victories in five or their last seven league matches to put survival in their own hands.

Bowling sit in 9th place, two points ahead of Heworth (10th) who occupy the final relegation spot, while they are one point behind this weekend’s opponents, Thatto.

With only two games of the season remaining, a victory today would basically guarantee survival as they have a far superior points difference to Heworth even if they claim a win too.

Looking ahead to the contest, Bowling head coach, Williams said: “It’s a massive game for us, there’s no denying that.

“We have two games left, one at home this weekend and then a trip to Rochdale on the last game of the season, which will be a very difficult fixture.

“So, we are treating this as a must win game in our bid for survival. If we win this then the celebrations can start because we’ve worked so hard to get into this position.

“We need one last push to get over the line and to achieve safety at home would be extra special.”

West Bowling have the opportunity to complete a miraculous survival today after almost being dead and buried (Image: John Ashton)

It’s the first season in 20 years that West Bowling have played their rugby in the National Conference Premier Division, and although they had to endure a difficult start to the campaign, Williams believes that his side have shown their worth in the latter stages of the season.

He said: “I’m extremely proud of my players for the turnaround in form.

“They’ve shown a lot of heart, desire and grit to stay motivated when times were tough.

“They could have so easily packed in, but they didn’t and now they’re in a position where safety is in their hands.

“We couldn’t buy a win in the first 13 games; it was a challenge and the step up to the Premier Division seemed to hurt us.

“However, myself and the group always remained positive, and the results have started to come just at the right time.

“Particularly in the last seven games, we’ve really shown our quality and we’ve shown that we can compete at this level.

“If we do confirm our safety in the league, I think we’ve built a really strong foundation for next season and we’ve got something good that we can work with.”

Giving his thoughts on why Bowling’s fortunes have changed so drastically in recent weeks, Williams said: “I think it comes down to the fact that we’ve got a proper squad to choose from, that’s the reality of it.

“When you get promoted, you want to have a fully fit squad to select from, but we’ve had some difficulties in that department this year.

“But we’ve managed to get players back at the right time and I think that has played a big part in our form turning.

“To add to that, victories bring confidence to a group, and that’s exactly what has happened with us.

“Momentum is massive in sport, and we’ve been able to play on the fact that we’ve got plenty of momentum.”

Williams and West Bowling had initially targeted a play-off push at the beginning of the campaign, but the West Yorkshire side’s head coach feels that those aspirations may have been a step too far.

He said: “It was a discussion we had at the start of the year as an objective, but it should never have been really.

“It was our first season back in the top-flight for many years, so our first goal and objective was to stay in the division.

“So, if we achieve that, that would be objective completed and it would represent a very solid season back in the Premier Division.

“Everyone at the club would be able to celebrate that achievement, and then, maybe, we could review our goals for the following year.”