KINGS Norton captain Mark Waudby has admitted his beleaguered troops are expecting to be beaten by second-placed Old Coventrians on Saturday (ko 2.15pm).

The hosts have leaked 385 points whilst losing all seven Midlands West Three South matches and Waudby admitted he had already given up on Saturday.

We've written off Saturday and want to get a recruitment drive going so we can wipe the slate clean in the New Year and start picking up some points, he said.

Basement boys Norton were on the end of a 94-3 hammering at the weekend after a number of late withdrawals left them short of players.

A side already missing full back John Hefford through rib damage also lost centre Peter May who failed a test on his dislocated finger.

And young centre Simon Eldred was a late withdrawal after damaging his shoulder in a midweek fixture.

With prop Kevin Edwards arriving 15 minutes late because of work commitments Norton, without a point after seven matches, were forced to start with 14 men.

Things went from bad to worse with inside centre Mick Fahey taken off with a rib injury and flanker James Norman, Edwards and hooker Rick Adams sin-binned for portions of the rout.

Waudby is still desperately searching for a replacement for scrum half Martin Hefford who moved out of the area and has moved stand off Aiden Brennan into the position as a short-term solution.

John Hefford is bidding to return on Saturday but May faces another week on the sidelines and the extent of Eldred's injury is unknown.

Fahey has been ruled out until after Christmas.

Waudby is hoping Norman, a student at Bangor University, can recruit some course mates to the cause to help stave off relegation with the Hopwood side two points adrift of second-from bottom Evesham and six points behind Keresley, the club in what many expect to be the safety zone.