DUDLEY Kingswinford hope to welcome back several key men for this Saturday’s showdown with Stockport.

The Heathbrook side have been struggling with injuries in recent weeks and joint-head coach Jon Higgins believes this played a key factor in last weekend’s disappointing 13-13 draw at lowly Huddersfield.

Higgins himself could be among the returnees along with fellow head coach Pete Knight, while Chris Perry and and Jimmy Gore should be back to bolster what has been a depleted backline.

Saturday’s visitors have lost all 11 games so far this season and Higgins says victory is vital if DK are to maintain their cushion over National Two North’s bottom three.

He said: “We are at home and that makes it a bigger game in many ways, it’s almost another must-win.

“We’ll be confident, a few players are coming back and that makes it easier.

“We’ve been hit pretty hard in recent weeks and when you have no backs replacement on the bench, as was the case on Saturday, it shows how tough things have been.”

DK made an excellent start on Saturday when Jon Tideswell notched an early try but things went downhill from there as they struggled to get to grips with the heavy pitch and a determined Huddersfield outfit who had lost all their previous games this term.

Trailing 13-7 at the break, two Gareth Bown penalties squared things up but it was the home side who almost snatched it when Joel Hinchcliffe sent a drop goal attempt just wide in stoppage time.

The draw ended a run of two straight wins for DK but Higgins was not overly disappointed.

He said: “Going into the game we would certainly have been looking to win but when you factor in all the injuries and the pitch, it’s probably not as bad a result as it seems from the outside.

“I’m not saying we could have won or that we were the better side but we can’t be too disappointed with what we took from the game.

“I still think it’s going to be tight at the bottom of the table this season.

“If you look at the teams around us, they have some easier looking games coming up so we need to pick up points at home, starting this Saturday.”