GEOFF Roberts believes Saturday’s match with Otley is the first in a series of must-win games for Sedgley Tigers.

Roberts’ side suffered a 15-7 defeat at Stourbridge last Saturday, which saw the hosts leapfrog Sedgley to second in the National Two North.

The Tigers slipped to fourth but have three games in hand on their rivals for second place, where they need to finish to book a place in the National Two play-off.

Roberts therefore remains confident Sedgley can clinch second spot but admits they have to get back to winning ways after losing their last two.

“Our catch-up games are must-win games,” said the Sedgley coach. “Stourbridge and the other teams around us aren’t playing this weekend so we have to take advantage.

“We dropped two or three points behind the others last weekend but if we can win against Otley then we’ll be straight back up into second place.

“This Saturday’s game is the first of three home games on the bounce and it’s always better to be playing at home, but having everyone fit again is more important.

“We’ve still got games in hand but once we can another win under our belt - and get a few players back - then I’m sure we’ll have a good run-in.”

Inside-centre Matt Riley returned at Stourbridge but Sedgley were without Johnny Mathews (concussion), Ben Lloyd (back) and Steve Collins (ankle).

The Tigers also lost Andy Riley to illness so Sam Lowthian came onto the wing, and they found themselves 12-0 down inside 27 minutes through two tries and a conversion.

Roberts felt Sedgley actually had the better of the opening stages but only had themselves to blame for not making it count.

“We had all the pressure in the first half,” he said. “We hammered their line but didn’t produce any points from it, and their tries came against the run of play really.

“Our line-outs didn’t go well, we lost six of our first seven. On the scrum it wasn’t going particularly well either, and if you’re not on top in those areas then it generally transfers to the game result.”

Stourbridge kicked a penalty just after half-time to go 15-0 up before Harri Greville crossed with 11 minutes left, with Matt Riley converting to set up a nervy finish.

“We played well for the last 20 minutes,” Roberts added. “We had them in trouble and I think they were chuffed to hear the final whistle.

“Had the game gone on for 10 minutes longer then we might have been on the winning side.”

Mike Waywell is expected to be back in training this week but probably won’t be able to return to the side until next week’s match against Chester.

This weekend Ben Black is unavailable while Andy Riley will be back from illness to face sixth-placed Otley, who are nine points behind Sedgley after winning their last three.