With a game in hand over their opponents who sit one place and one point above in the league table, Douglas will travel to Altrincham Kersal tomorrow to cement their place.
In the light of Sandbach averaging 37 points per game, Douglas were in the hunt right to the final whistle and disappointed not to reap some reward for 80 minutes of really hard graft.
The 37-14 win in October at Port-e-Chee against AK was as comprehensive as the score suggests, with Douglas 20-0 up at half-time, but promotion favourites Waterloo lost at AK later in October and winning at Stelfox Avenue can be tricky.
Altrincham Battle
There’s a few aces up coach Phil Cringle’s sleeve though, and one is certainly centre James Ross who had his best game against Sandbach and proved his defensive qualities in spades.
His attacking skills are starting to gel with those around him too, and Josh Duncan is developing his tactical nous at number 10 to utilise the pace of Kyle Martin and the craft and solidity of Harry Hewson.
Up front the contest will rage around the back-rows, where AK number 8 Chris Roddy scored two late and defiant tries in October, and with Mark Oldfield and Percy Hampton restored alongside Liam Kirkpatrick and Harry Cartwright for Douglas, battle will resume.
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