MARLOW RFC come to Kingsmead tomorrow knowing they could hammer home another nail in High Wycombe’s coffin.

Wycombe are enduring a torrid time at the moment with 16 losses from 19 South West 1 East games.

They are staring relegation in the face and have admitted themselves that defeat at the hands of their greatest rivals would be tough to come back from.

Wycombe head coach Dave Roberts said: “We have had a really tough season to date and are struggling to stay in our current league.

“Recent loses to Cheltenham, Coney Hill and Bletchley [30-11 last Saturday] were games we had targeted as ones we had to win.

“Sadly a combination of postponement due to snow and unavailability of players, lack of sufficient training and inconsistent performances on the day have seen us lose all three.”

It has left them standing over the trapdoor with Marlow hands on the lever.

Marlow captain George Jafari said: “We are not looking to beat Wycombe to send them down, we are looking to beat Wycombe because relegation is still a possibility for us.”

Marlow would have felt that even more acutely had they not ended a run of five losses with a 20-18 win over Coney Hill last weekend.

Jafari said: “We really dogged it out. They’re a physical team but we took it to them.

“We were feeling it a bit but we’ve got Bletchley, Newbury and Wycombe still to play so hopefully we can build on that.

“Wycombe are fighting relegation so they will give it everything they’ve got.

“But we are ready. We are set mentally.

“We know them well and a lot of the players know each other.

“Something could spark it and make it more feisty than it normally is, or we could be 15 or 20-0 in front and their heads could go down and they just didn’t want it.

“It’s a derby and anything can happen.

“But getting three wins against them in one year would be something to be very proud of.”

For Wycombe, local bragging rights is the last of their worries.

Roberts said: ““The season is by no means over and mathematically we could still survive if results go our way.

“However, we are also heavily reliant on other results going our way too to allow us to close the gap on Bletchley who are fourth from bottom.

“We have lost several battles, but the war is by no means over...as one of my players said the other day, ‘I don’t see any fat ladies’.”