Bury St Edmunds Director of Rugby, Gavin Hogg, insists that his side “have nothing to lose, and everything to gain,” from tomorrow afternoon’s home match against National League Two South leaders Chinnor (3pm).

Bury have lost eight of their last nine matches, but remain eight points clear of the relegation zone, having managed to pick up a welcome losing bonus point from last weekend’s narrow 10-3 defeat at promotion-chasing Redruth.

The Haberden club can certainly take heart from that last performance, down in Cornwall, and they are confident about being able to put pace-setters Chinnor under pressure on Suffolk soil tomorrow afternoon.

“I was delighted with the level of effort and application demonstrated throughout the 80 minutes at Chinnor,” said Hogg.

“We wanted to focus on our level of performance and see where that got us and, with the exception of the first 10 minutes when we had two yellow cards and conceded two tries, I thought we were the better team.

“It’s something for us to build on, and we have nothing to lose and everything to gain this weekend, against a top-of-the-table side.

“If we can get our mental side of the game correct, then I believe we can give Chinnor a very competitive match, and perhaps make it nervous for them.

“Chinnor only beat Barnes with the last play of the match (24-17) last weekend, so they are not indestructible. They only just nicked that one, and I’m sure we can put pressure on them, in the right areas,” added Hogg.

Chinnor have won 16 of their 21 league matches, and only lost three all season (with two draws), beating Bury on their own patch by 45-14 last October.

Hogg continued: “Chinnor are a very good side, who make very few mistakes.

“At their place, we turned the ball over 19 times, and they only turned it over four times. So they are a very well-organised side who don’t give away possession easily.”

Bury will be strengthened by the return of Ben Turner to the second row, following his two-week suspension, and also Dave Micklethwaite and Matt Edison (on the bench), who were both unavailable last weekend.

Teenager Jaid Wiltshire, back from a loan spell at Southend, will start on the wing.