Titan ready for tough night

Rotherham dropped out of the Championship play-off frame as they were pipped at the post by Bristol while Nottingham got back to form with bonus point 49-32 win over Moseley.

Titans know that a win tonight of any kind will take them back above the Midlanders and into fourth spot. It will also put that little bit more pressure on Nottingham tomorrow when they make a trip to take on another team with plenty to play for at the bottom end, Doncaster Knights.

First thing is first though and for Irish fulll-back Scanlon that means showing full respect to a Moseley side fighting for Championship survival.

And if Titans needed any warning against complacency, Mosley's 26-22 win in the first fixture at Clifton Lane on Boxing Day should serve as a reminder.

Scanlon told the Advertiser: "Moseley is a difficult place to go and we owe them one after they beat us here, although it was a farce because we were down to 12 men at one point.

"It's a 'must win'. Nottingam took a bonus point against Moseley last weekend but it doesn't mean we can automatically do the same.

"It's going to be gritty, it's going to be raining and it will be eight, nine or ten-man rugby. Moseley are fighting for the lives, they're in a relegation battle and they'll be tough.

"If we win we will be fourth and that will put pressure on Nottingham going to Doncaster.

"From our point of view, we've four matches left of the regular season now and every one is pretty much a 'must in' because we want to go to Nottingham next month giving ourselves the best chance we can."

Scanlon and his team-mates have to be happy with the way they've performed in recent weeks.

Back-to-back wins preceded the clash with Bristol and few outsiders could have predicted there would be just two points between the teams at the finish, given that the visitors had won 16 out of 17 in the league.

But, says Scanlon, expectations were higher in the Titans camp.

"Bristol tend to struggle against us and we're always 'up' when we play them," he added.

"If you had offered us two points against Bristol four weeks ago then I suppose we would have taken it but we played well against Leeds and Cornish Pirates and we were confidently looking for four points last Saturday and no less. Now we've got to push on."

Kick-off tonight is at 7.30pm.