With Whitehaven losing heavily away to leaders Bradford Bulls on Saturday the sixth-placed Dons knew that they would climb back into a play-off spot on points difference were they to beat the Bears. But with only two points separating third from seventh, Dons boss Richard Horne knows that there is precious little room for error during the last six games. Two are against fellow top-five hopefuls Workington, now two points clear of the chasing pack after effectively ending Keighley’s outside hopes, and Whitehaven, who dropped from fourth to seventh. The two games against the Cumbrian sides, the first of which will be the trip to Whitehaven on Sunday week, are seen as key fixtures by club officials. But the fifth-placed Dons, one of four teams on 26 points, also have several other testing games in the run-in prior to entertaining Town in the last league game of the season. Their rivals also face several four-pointers over the next six weeks. In addition to travelling down to South Yorkshire, third-placed Workington also have to visit Bradford and entertain second-placed York City Knights who are involved in a two-horse race with the Bulls for the automatic promotion spot. Fourth-placed Oldham, who have the best points difference outside of the top two, also have to face both York (away) and Bradford (home) as well as playing host to Whitehaven who look to have the toughest run-in. In addition to tackling both the Dons and Oldham, the Cumbrians also host Hunslet and travel to York. Hunslet, whose toughest challenges look to be the games at York and Whitehaven, look to have the easiest run of fixtures and could prove a major threat for the Dons.
