Kingstone Press Championship One Preview: Hunslet Hawks v Oxford

Hunslet Hawks trio Liam Hood, Aston Wilson and James Coyle all look set to miss out against Oxford.

Hood (hamstring) and Coyle (calf) are both battling to overcome recent problems, while Wilson suffered a whiplash injury in a recent car crash.

But despite those absentees, Hawks coach Barry Eaton remains in confident mood.

He said: “We deserved the win last week, despite the final result. We were the better side (against Oldham), but we had some tough calls that went against us.

“There are obviously still areas we want to be better in this week, but overall it was a good performance.”

He added: “This will be the fourth time we’ve played Oxford this year, and they can be dangerous side.

“They’ve got a number of good players and they can play well on any given day if given space and time.

“But we’ve only had three poor performances this season – two against York and the loss at home to Gloucestershire.

“Three poor performances across the course of the season means you’re not far off, especially with the disruption of a number of weekends without a game.

“Hopefully we can build some momentum now ahead of the play-offs.”

Oxford coach Tony Benson is missing JJ Baird, who has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.