Beccles Rugby Club have had a difficult season so far - but they will start the New Year boosted by successive victories.

The Bulls go into their penultimate fixture of the regular season at leaders Fakenham on Saturday third from bottom in Eastern Counties One North.

After starting the campaign with successive wins Beccles hit a downward spiral and lost eight games on the trot before successive home victories over fellow strugglers Swaffham (50-20) and high-flying Diss Saracens (19-10) put them in good heart going into the festive break.

The target now is to finish the campaign outside the bottom two, with Swaffham just two points below them, and to head into a new set of challenges against teams from further afield in good form.

After the game at home to bottom side Great Yarmouth-Broadland on January 13 Beccles will be taking on teams who finished in similar positions in the West and South leagues. with their destination for 2018-19 to be decided by how they perform in those fixture.

“We had a difficult spell, with injuries not helping, but were able to field much stronger sides in our two most recent games and you could see that out on the pitch,” said club secretary Keith Johnstone.

“The performances have improved, with the strength of our pack helping us to get back to winning ways. Having got out of the bottom two we now need to sure we stay out. It won’t be easy at Fakenham but if we could come away from there with a bonus point and then win our final game I think there’s every chance we’ll stay above Swaffham.

“We’ll then need to concentrate on the games against teams from Eastern Counties One West and South. If all goes to plan we will be playing the sides who finished third and fourth from bottom in those leagues.”

As it stands Beccles’ opponents will be Sudbury Talbots, Mistley, Bury St Edmunds III and Cantabs II - but that could all change over the next few weeks.