COACH Norman Stalker reckons injury-hit Ludlow’s battling triumph over Uttoxeter will provide the perfect preparation for Saturday’s crunch clash at Burntwood.

Stalker’s walking wounded rallied to a 39-17 victory at the Linney prior to his patched-up army heading for a season-defining showdown with their closest Midlands Three West (North) title rivals.

An already-reshuffled Ludlow side had to cope with the late withdrawal of hooker Ben Barnfield who was involved in a car accident on the morning of the match.

But prop Anthony Marfell scored a hat-trick with Jim Alderson, Jack Lines and Laurence Hughes also crossing the whitewash for an eighth straight bonus-point victory that put a smile on Stalker’s face.

“There were five changes because of players being unavailable or injured so all in all, it was a very pleasing performance,” said Stalker.

“They were no pushovers, they were big and organised and we had to work really hard for everything we got. Physically, they were as tough as any side we have faced so far.

“We looked quite comfortable at half-time but they came storming back to 24-17 and we had to be resilient to take control of the game again. It was nice to see us cope with that and in particular, the forwards had a good day.

“It is not often you see a prop score three and that demonstrates how much control we had in those areas. All things considered, it was one of our most pleasing performances of the season.

“Sometimes, you can win by a big margin and everyone is delighted but as a coach, you don’t feel you have been challenged. You learn so much more about your players on days like Saturday and I certainly found out a lot of good things.”

Fly-half Mark Williams is set to miss a month with the broken hand he suffered on cup duty at Droitwich with Will Sparrow and Sam Thomas unavailable for the trip to Staffordshire.

Sam Wilkes, who missed the Uttoxeter match through injury, should return to the front row.

“When you look at Burntwood's points for and against, their record is pretty similar to ours. They don’t give away much and it is a big game,” said Stalker.

“Every little bit counts at this stage of the season. The more you do now, the easier things become. We don’t want to make mistakes and get to Christmas thinking how far clear we might have been.

“So many promotion bids die at this time of year and we have to make sure it does not happen to us. This is probably the first crunch game but we are in a nice position in that we will be top come what may.

“If we get our game right, I expect another win but it won’t be easy by any stretch of the imagination.”