RHYS Morgan hopes his Ilkley side can secure a winning double over Wirral on Saturday.

Ilkley grabbed a 39-17 victory at the Merseyside club in the reverse fixture on October 29.

Now the seventh-placed side hope history repeats itself against Wirral at Stacks Field in the North Premier clash.

Injury-hit Ilkley also hope to bounce back from a 23-12 defeat at Alnwick last weekend, as an encouraging run of form was brought to an end.

They hope to have Elliot Morgan back from illness, but Pete Erskine will miss out due to a concussion sustained against Alnwick. Max McKay will be back after suffering from a shoulder injury and Ed Brown faces a late fitness test after suffering a hamstring injury at Alnwick.

Morgan said: "We had lost to Alnwick and Rossendale before, and we had to make a lot of changes for the Wirral away game. We won and got a bonus point and I'd like to repeat that.

"I'm extremely proud of what we have done this season. They have just got on with it and got stuck in. They keep digging in. I have nothing but praise for this set of lads.

"There is a few more games left, plenty of rugby left to play this season.

"I would love to give some of the lads who have worked so hard for us this season a rest, as they deserve it, but I can't due to the injuries.

"Jimmy Lowes said in training that we really have to target the league now and finish as high as we can."

Morgan was also philosophical about his side's defeat in the North East last weekend due to the number of injuries and illness among his squad both before and after the game.

He added: "It's just the nature of the beast I'm afraid. You have to sometimes say that losing is by virtue of the circumstances of the game.

"We lost players before, and during, the game. You have to rejig things. It puts you on the backfoot.

"Not having a massive squad in these situations means you can be a bit stop-start with the league form.

"I was really proud of the lads because of the disruption to the team just beforehand and injuries on the park, to only lose three tries to two was good. The weather did not run for us either. That played into their hands and turned it into a forwards game."