WHARFEDALE travel to Newbury tomorrow with a sharp reminder from coach Peter Hartley ringing in their ears about the need to produce the form they are capable of more often than they have been doing this season, (writes Tony Simpson).

Hartley's belief in his team has not been dented by recent inconsistent displays and he holds fast to the view that on their day, the Dalesmen have the ability to beat any side in the division.

The frustrating thing for Hartley is that the good days do not come round as often as they should and that the make-up of the National Division Two table does not permit these fluctuations in form.

"It's not an easy division these days," he says: "You can play well and lose, but you can't play badly and win. We are becoming our own worst enemies. I was disappointed against Esher because the game was definitely winable had we played well.

"The players gave everything in terms of effort, but we paid the price for becoming over-confident after we had started well. We had a bad middle period when we shipped points and that cost us the game.

"We've had some good wins at Newbury in the past, but our recent performances have been poor and we need to put a proper performance in tomorrow.

"We need our forwards to stand up and be counted. The backs have been functioning well in the circumstances, but we need a more consistent level of performance from the pack.

"We need to be putting some form and consistency together."

While Hartley is unlikely to use the threat of relegation as a stick in his pre-match talk, the Dalesmen could use a win tomorrow to keep the clubs under threat in the lower reaches of the table at arm's length.

Newbury are one place and one point below them in the table and while the game does not carry the intensity of a relegation struggle, in practical terms it remains a four-pointer.

With three clubs going down and over half a season still to play, Wharfedale need to galvanise themselves against the possibility of any of the lower clubs turning their season around.

Recent results suggest that the likes of Fylde and Stourbridge are not so far away from turning narrow defeats into narrow wins and if that happens, no-one in the bottom half of the table can rest easy.

In short, Wharfedale need a performance at Newbury tomorrow and coach Hartley will doubtless be spelling that message out in accents bold and clear.

On the team front, Hedley Verity is in line for a return after suffering some muscular compression in his neck against Launceston. He is pencilled into the line-up at this stage alongside the Hargreaves brothers, with Paul Evans on the bench and ready to come in if Verity's fitness is in doubt.

Otherwise the Dalesmen rely on the same squad that was on duty against Esher.

Wharfedale: J Davies; C Eccleston, D Whitfield, C Malherbe, G Johston; A Baggett, S Cotterill; C Ingram, G Hindle, N Dickinson, A Capstick, D Lister, H Verity, S Hargreaves, P Hargreaves.