HADDINGTON RFC have three weeks to save their season, according to captain Liam Clutton.
The club are currently bottom of National League Division 3, having won only one league game all season – a 35-19 triumph at relegation rivals Dalziel last October.
The Reds visit the Capital on Saturday morning to take on Murrayfield Wanderers, 38-0 winners at Neilson Park on the season’s opening day.
They then travel to face fourth-bottom Perthshire before hosting third-bottom Orkney, who are just a point better off than the Reds.
And centre Clutton, pictured below, who took over from Colin Stuart as captain at the beginning of the season, knows the next three matches are critical.
He told Courier Sport: “The next three games are vital to us staying up – they are the three biggest games of the season.
“It’s very disappointing to be where we are as in the previous two seasons we’ve been in contention for promotion at stages.”
Rhodri Thomas replaced Bryan Craig as head coach in 2015 after the Reds’ relegation from National 2 and led the side to a fourth-place finish in his first season in charge.
Twelve months later, Haddington finished sixth and Clutton, who has also featured at scrum-half this term, said that the unavailability of key personnel had played a part in the team’s struggles.
He added: “We’re still affected by the serious injuries from last season and one or two injuries this season and losing boys for various reasons.
“This has made team selection difficult and we’ve had to have players out of position on numerous occasions.
“We’ve managed to keep our toe in the games and have put in 100 per cent but we’ve had some key decisions go against us and small lapses of concentration have had us several scores down in a short space of time.”
See the league table below. . .
And the Reds skipper admits it would be a “huge blow” if the club were to be relegated from the national leagues.
He said: “There has been so much effort put into improving the club and it would be the lowest league the club has ever been in.”
With half a dozen games left, he was remaining optimistic and said: “We are positive about the next three games and are positive about remaining in this league.”
That challenge continues on the back pitches at BT Murrayfield on Saturday, with kick-off at the earlier time of 11am due to Six Nations Super Saturday.
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