Harrogate RUFC can take over at top of the table with Good Friday win over Doncaster Phoenix RUFC

The Aces ground out a narrow 7-5 success away at Doncaster at the weekend, a result which leaves them three points behind North One East leaders Heath.

And if the Rudding Lane outfit win their upcoming game in hand, then they will leapfrog their title rivals into pole position, leaving their hopes of an immediate bounce-back into National Two North firmly in their own hands.

With so much at stake on Friday, ‘Gate director of rugby Martyn Wood is hoping that a big crowd turns out to back his players.

"Donny Phoenix at home is the big one for us,” he said. "Obviously it is an important game in terms of our season and it would be nice to get a good crowd there to support the lads.

"I think that we’ll be about the only game of rugby around here that’s taking place on the day, so I’m hoping that people will come down to the club and back us.

"As a team, we just have to keep doing the same for the next couple of weeks as we have done all year, and that's take it one game at a time.

"There are no easy fixtures in this division, but as I’ve been saying every week, I believe that if we turn up on the day and we are mentally right for the game, then we have the quality, the physicality and the fitness to beat anyone, so we just have to focus on ourselves and make sure that we are on it.”

Saturday’s game at Doncaster saw Harrogate playing with a strong wind at their backs during the first half and spend the majority of the opening 40 minutes on the attack.

But some excellent defensive work by the home team kept them at bay and meant that no points were scored by either side before the interval.

Playing into the wind after the break, ‘Gate fell behind when Phoenix number eight Jamal Khilal-Ibrahim went over in the corner on 57 minutes.

But Aces skipper Sam Brady levelled matters in the 64th minute, with Oli Toomey kicking the resulting conversion to decide the contest.