Whitehaven and Workington Town will enter the last chance saloon on Sunday, both in Yorkshire but 22 miles apart.

While Whitehaven will be bidding to keep their slim survival hopes alive at Dewsbury, Town have a similar task at Sheffield.

Stoically, officials at the two west Cumbrian clubs refuse to accept they are heading for League One until it becomes mathematically impossible to escape.

As they stand, with three games to play, the pair trail Oldham by five points and are six points behind Swinton.

On Sunday, the bottom-four all have testing away games because Swinton go to Championship Shield favourites Bradford while Oldham are at Halifax, rejuvenated by their win at Whitehaven on Monday.

So there is an incentive for Town and Whitehaven that if they can come up with victories they would, in all likelihood, close the gap on the pair above them.

Town coach Phil Veivers said: “Until we run out of points to be able to get out of trouble we will be doing all we can.

“We would have been in a better position with a win at Swinton but it didn’t work out.”

It’s a similar story down the road at Whitehaven where Craig Calvert, one of the four players currently running the squad, said: “We will prepare again later in the week, patch up some tired bodies and go again on Sunday.

“Until it’s mathematically impossible, we refuse to give in.”

Injures to both Cumbrian sides have been well-documented this season with Town, not for the first time, unable to call on all four of their named substitutes at Swinton.

There was one notable occasion when only one of Town’s four substitutes was able to take the field against Leigh.

More recently Whitehaven had just two of their replacements fit enough to be used against Sheffield.

If both clubs do drop into League One, it is clear there are going to be changes – Town, with new personnel in the boardroom and Haven with a new man in charge of coaching.

In fact, those new measures will almost certainly be brought into play even if one, or both of the Cumbrian neighbours survive relegation.