INFLUENTIAL centre Stefan Shillingford is expected to be passed fit for Dudley Kingswinford’s showdown with Sheffield Tigers.

A dead leg forced Shillingford out of last weekend’s 41-21 defeat at Darlington Mowden Park early in the second-half.

But he is ready to return this Saturday, along with prop Rich Kelley and player-coach Jon Higgins, who says victory against the Tigers is vital if DK are to gain any momentum having lost three of their first four games in National Two North.

He said: “If we are going to stay in this league, games like Sheffield at home are ones we should be winning.

“No disrespect to them but there are much tougher teams in this league. It’s critical we pick our performance up this week.

”If we had won the first game against Otley we would have just about a par score right now but the three defeats make this game even more important.

“If we don’t start winning our home fixtures we are in for a struggle.”

DK were well in the hunt at Darlington, just 17-16 down at half-time.

But Shillingford’s exit conincided with the hosts bringing on flay-half Grant Connon and his incisive running proved the difference in the second-half as the Heathbrook side were beaten by six tries to three.

Higgins was philosophical about the defeat.

He said: “We didn’t play badly at all and to be honest I can’t quite put my finger on the problem.

“I’m not sure we have the necessary desire or understanding how to win these games.

“We actually played quite well on the day but couldn’t string enough phases together to take the win.

“We need to try and get a bit of a run going and I feel if we can beat Sheffield there are other games coming up we can target for points.”