THE PRESSURE is mounting by the week as Lydney's remarkable rugby season unfolds with another massive game this weekend.

Beaten just once in their league campaign – away to Blackheath – they face a formidable task at Basingstoke on Saturday.

"It is going to be a huge test. Basingstoke have improved dramatically since the start of the season but the team is brimming with confidence. A win would guarantee a huge crowd for the game against Havant at Regentsholme the following week," said team manager Gordon Sargent.

"We have reached the stage where we desperately want a top two finish. The runners-up spot would give us a play- off place against the runners-up in Division Three North – currently New Brighton.

"But we would like to win the league and to do that we have to win all our games," he said.

The team with the best record will have home advantage in the case of a play-off but Sargent is well aware that achieving even that aim is far from a formality.

"What happens now is up to us. There will be banana skins so we have to be on top of our game every single week. So far we have been lucky with injuries but the pack has played really well and the backs have tackled themselves into the ground," he said.

Sargent reflected on a hugely successful Christmas with a home win against Old Patesians and an even more impressive victory at North Walsham.

"It is always a difficult place to play. There was a big crowd urging them on but our forward play was excellent. We ended up with about 65 per cent of the game and 65 per cent of the ball and defensively we were very good. Scrum-half Dave Arnott also played a full game and did really well," he said.

For Saturday's test at Basingstoke the Severnsiders will be without influential prop Nick Bartlett who has to miss a game after picking up three yellow cards.

But Sargent is optimistic the team's outstanding run of success can continue.

"We beat then 23 - 8 at Regentsholme back in September but since then they seem to have gone from strength to strength and they have been winning by big scores. For instance they put 50 points on Old Pats and 40 points on Barking last week so they have to be more than useful.

"It will be a huge test for us but from now on until the end of the season every game is going to be exactly the same,' he said.

Today's pictures are from the Christmas game against Old Patesians.