READ professional Akram Raza believes his side can still give Cherry Tree a run for their money in the race for the Jennings Ribblesdale League title as they prepare for a crunch game against fellow challengers Baxenden.

The two sides meet at Whalley Road tomorrow locked together on 81 points, eight behind leaders Cherry Tree, who go to Padiham.

The victors will therefore be in pole position should Cherry Tree slip up and Raza admits it's a vital clash for Nick Marsh's men. He said: "They have hit some good form and been coming up over the last few weeks. It's very important for us to beat any team which is at the top of the table."

Baxenden made up ground last weekend when they somehow beat the weather to take maximum points, while Read were washed out against struggling Whalley.

"If we could have beaten Whalley it would have made a difference but you can't fight against nature," added Raza.

Read have slipped behind Cherry Tree on the back of an indifferent run but the two sides are still to meet and Raza feels the gap can be closed if Read can get back to winning ways tomorrow.

The former Pakistan batsman added: "We were doing excellently all season but sometimes you have a bit of a bad run and we want to get out of it as soon as possible.

"It's still wide open and you can't predict anything with a few teams still to play each other.

"It's hard to say anything about the league. We have to concentrate hard to get out of our bad patch and if we can get a couple of wins we are right back in it.

"There are still five games left. It could have been a different story if there were two or three games left but we can still come back and finish close. We have a chance to get out of it."

Tomorrow's fixtures: Barnoldswick v Blackburn Northern; Clitheroe v Great Harwood, Padiham v Cherry Tree, Read v Baxenden, Ribblesdale Wanderers v Edenfield, Settle v Oswaldtwistle Immanuel, Whalley v Earby.