RHYL face a do-or-die clash this weekend in their quest for promotion from the Huws Gray Alliance.

The Lilywhites travel to long-time leaders Caernarfon Town on Saturday in what is a pivotal encounter in the race to achieve JD Welsh Premier League status.

Matthew Jones’ side missed out on a massive opportunity to close the gap on the Canaries when they failed to hold on to a comfortable advantage and suffered a 5-4 home loss to Porthmadog, and the gap is now eight points ahead of the While that may be too much of a gap, a win at The Oval would no doubt give the Lilies a new lease of life ahead of the title run in while also giving sides such as Holywell Town, Airbus Broughton and Denbigh Town renewed hope that the Cofis can be caught.

There is no doubt they are a huge threat going forward as was demonstrated in their clash with Port, and players like Alex Tichiner, Alun Webb and Mark Connolly have all found their strides in recent weeks which has been the catalyst behind their success.

With 11 goals in their last three games they are sure to test a Town defence that has conceded 23 times in their 17 league outings so far, and manager Sean Eardley has already stated they will need to cut out the mistakes they committed during their last gasp draw with Denbigh to avoid being punished by the ruthless Lilies’ attack.

It is at the other end where Rhyl are having the problem of late. Their normally stout rearguard has been left exposed on many occasions as the squad gets used to a new expansive style of play and this will need to be eradicated this week in training to avoid another defeat at the hands of a Caernarfon attack that is capable of putting the sword to any side in the HGA on their day.

The fitness of Tony Davies will be crucial to their chances of getting a result, with the consistent defender going off injured against Port and will now face a race against time to lock up with arguably the league’s best all-round hitman in Jamie Breese.

This is undoubtedly the last chance saloon for Jones and his side in their quest for promotion this season, but the fact they are still in with a shout speaks volumes of how far the club has progressed since the departure of Niall McGuinness.

Whether or not that is enough to derail the Canaries’ juggernaut remains to be seen, but it promises to be a fascinating tie in-front of a huge crowd that would be more befitting to the top flight than the second tier.