North Wales Crusaders are targeting this Sunday’s clash with Workington Town as a key battle in their top-eight challenge.

Crusaders head coach Mike Grady admitted his side scraped a win over Hemel Stags last weekend.

But he said they were ready to up their game for the visit of Workington on Sunday, kick-off 2.30pm.

“This will be a vital two points if we can get them,” said Grady.

“There’s not much between teams in this league, it is just who turns up on the day.

“We got the win against Hemel but we need to pick up the win against Workington and teams around us that are fighting for that eight.

“So, we will be working hard to gear up towards this.”

North Wales have struggled with consistency and injury problems, something Grady is trying to address.

He is currently without Alex Thompson with a bad knee injury, Dale Bloomfield and Calum Mulkeen, with hamstring and shoulder problems respectively.

“We have been fielding different combinations with different players week in, week out,” added Grady.

“But we have to look for the positives. We dug in against Hemel, a side that didn’t stop coming.

“But we do need to build on that for a tough game against Workington.”

The Crusaders came back from 10-0 down they secured back-to-back league wins with a narrow 26-20 victory over Hemel Stags.

And they now lie 12th, four places below Town but on the same number of points.

Town will not be keen to give up the final eighth berth and they are hoping to have prop Tom Curwen and free-scoring winger Joe Hambley back in their ranks.

The duo missed the narrow 26-30 home defeat at the hands of Doncaster last Sunday after failing concussion checks.