RUNCORN added a point towards their survival in the Unibond Premier League with a scoreless draw away to Whitby Town on Saturday.

The club now entertain their nearest rivals Chorley on Saturday in a match which, if won, could effectively end Runcorn's relegation worries for the year.

The kick-off has been brought forward to 1pm in order to avoid a clash with the England vs Poland game.

Runcorn are currently five points ahead of Chorley, the club occupying the second relegation place, but have four games in hand on them.

But manager Mark Carter does not consider the result to be decisive either way: "It's a question of winning those games in hand. There are 12 left and a lot of points to go for," he said.

The point against Whitby, who had beaten the Linnets earlier this year at Canal Street, ended a run of three successive defeats.

"That has stopped the rot a little bit," he said. "Whitby's a difficult place to go so I was quite happy."

With the exception of the Altrincham away defeat, Mark felt his team were 'unlucky' to lose those games.

But there is good news on injured centre-back Carl Ruffer, who should be available for a return to the first team the weekend after next.

Ruffer has been out since January, and has now been joined on the sidelines by Neil Whalley, who hurt himself on Saturday.

At the time of going to press Runcorn were preparing their attempts to overturn a one-goal deficit against Leigh RMI in the second leg of the President's Cup semi-final.

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