BRIDGWATER & Albion head coach Kevin Innalls knows his high-flying side face a tough test on Saturday when local rivals North Petherton visit College Way.

Albion have won 12 of their 17 league games so far this season to confirm themselves as genuine promotion candidates, despite being docked five points for fielding an ineligible player – and Innalls is hoping to record win number 14 in front of a bumper Bridgwater crowd on Saturday.

He said: “We are very pleased with how the season has gone for us so far – it wasn’t an easy start having five points taken off us before we had started, but we have recruited some good players and it is starting to gel together for us.

“We are sort of where we expect to be now, which is great.

“I think it’s still a long way to go in the season, but Cleve don’t really look like slipping up, so we are fighting towards securing second place and a play-off spot.

“There’s still time for them to slip up, but we’ll just concentrate on what we’ve got to do.

“We are expecting a tough game against Pethy, it always is – and it’s going to be another great day for the town, with a big crowd and Pethy bringing a lot of supporters with them as well.

“They have done well in recent games against us but we got the win against them last season – our first one in a while – and we’ll be looking to do the same thing again on Saturday.”

Bridgwater have secured the most trybonus points in South West One West with 13, one more than league leaders Cleve – and Innalls is full of praise for his side’s attacking performances.

He said: “We have always tried to play a bit of rugby and all our coaches want to play an attacking style.

“Our pack have been brilliant in giving us a consistent platform and we’ve brought in some good players, like James Martin, Jervis Manupenu and Chris Ashwin – to go with the local lads we already had.”

Kick-off is 3pm on Saturday – supporters are encouraged to arrive early as a large and vociferous crowd is expected.