Papua New Guinea pair Dion Aiye and Jessie Joe Parker are Whitehaven’s main concerns ahead of Sunday’s home clash with London Skolars.

They both picked up injuries against Workington Town in Sunday’s last-gasp 24-22 derby win at Derwent Park.

Unless there’s a rapid improvement over the second-half of the week, both will miss out against a Skolars side encouraged by last week’s effort against York City Knights.

Coach Carl Forster said: “Jessie’s knee is still twice the size it should be while Dion has a bicep injury and we are not sure of the exact extent at the moment.

“Several of the lads picked-up injuries on Sunday, particularly Lewis Brown but I think they are all going to be OK for Sunday.

“We are still waiting to see the situation with Kris Coward who had been hoping to make the line-up at Town.

“But the abscess on his elbow has continued to give him problems and it’s still unclear whether he will be able to play again.

“I think overall, looking back over the season, we have been quite lucky with injuries but operating with only a small squad always carries the danger if you do run into a crop of them.”

One player who will definitely be back in the squad is hooker James Tilley, who had to miss the derby game at the weekend.

Forster explained: “James has new shift patterns at his work so wasn’t free at the weekend.

"It means he will miss two or three games before the end of the season but he’s certainly OK to return on Sunday.”

This weekend’s opponents London Skolars went down narrowly 22-20 at home to second-in-the-table York City Knights on Sunday – a result which will fill them with more confidence despite lying fourth bottom of the table.

They have recently signed prop-forward Matt Ross on a permanent deal after he spent a month on loan from Keighley Cougars.

Ross had earlier in his career spent two years with Hemel Stags while he was a student in London.