By Martin Morgan

Published at 15:43, Wednesday, 28 July 2010

DEWSBURY boss Warren Jowitt plans to take the heat out of a potential relegation showdown against Whitehaven next week – by staging a Rams raid at Leigh on Sunday.

The Yorkshiremen aim to secure their Championship status by taking three points off the Centurions, which would seal Haven’s fate ahead of Dewsbury’s trip to the Recre.

“It would be nice to get something out of Leigh to take some pressure off us,” said Jowitt.

“If we get a point we can pretty much say we are up. If not we’ll have to get ready for Whitehaven and try to sort it out up there.

“From day one our priority has been to stay up in this division. I know we are in a relegation fight and we can’t write off Keighley and certainly not Whitehaven.”

With just three games left to play, the promoted Rams lie seven points ahead of Haven and boast a far superior points difference, so a bonus point at Leigh should be enough to retain their status.

Jowitt does not blame Stokes for Haven’s woes this term, pointing to their strong performances under him in recent seasons and warning that issues such as pay cuts for players has not helped their cause.

“Things lie a little deeper and you can’t hold the coach responsible for that,” he added. “Things have worked against him.

“Over the years he’s done a very good job and I hope Whitehaven don’t hold him responsible. I think he’s done a cracking job.”

Haven and bottom club Keighley are now overwhelming favourites to drop to Championship One, with Dewsbury just ahead.

But Jowitt believes the Rams deserve to be higher in the table, with refereeing decisions costing them dear.

“We’ve had at least five games this season where the referee has decided the outcome,” he said.

“It’s quite poor that they can do that and it needs to be looked in to.

“There have been two games we didn’t deserve to win, against Featherstone and Keighley at home.

“In every other, we’ve always been in the ball game. We’ve lost several in the final five minutes. At Featherstone we ran them off the park and then a defensive lapse cost us the game. We have been very competitive.”

He added that Dewsbury should be at full strength at Leigh.

Meanwhile, Haven’s under-strength reserve-grade were within three minutes of building a virtually unassailable lead at the table before going down 20-14 at Featherstone.

The sides were locked at 14-all with 77 minutes on the clock before the hosts edged clear.

Haven’s second-string have two games left of the regular season, away at Dewsbury on August 7 and at Keighley the following weekend, and a win in either is likely to see the Cumbrians top the table ahead of the play-offs.

“We’ve gone out and performed really well all season and this game was no exception,” manager Dave Farrell said.

“We had three new lads in the team and four played with injuries, so all the players can be justifiably proud.

Prop Kyle Bibb will play no part in Haven’s end-of-season relegation battle after completing his one-month loan stint.

The 23-year-old was drafted in from Wakefield Trinity Wildcats last month and later stated he was prepared to remain for the rest of the season.

But homegrown teenage front-rower Danny Bower has since broke through in to the first-team, and boss Ged Stokes has decided to look to the future.

Published by http://www.whitehaven-news.co.uk