Fifteen points clear at the top of North One West, Carlisle Rugby Club appear in full control with eight games left to play.

Promotion has not yet been confirmed and player-coach Matt Shields will be insisting on business as usual as the programme resumes tomorrow.

Carlisle host Northwich, one of only two teams to beat them in the first-half of the season, but who trail the Cumbrians by 22 points.

Despite that huge gap, Northwich are still among a cluster of five clubs who it can be argued still have a chance of making the promotion play-off place.

Realistically, that’s what they are playing for – to finish second and grab promotion through the play-off final.

Because it would need a really dramatic collapse for Carlisle to lose top spot now, and Shields will be certain to have "no complacency" written large in his training and pre-match notes.

But if Carlisle look comfortable, provided they don’t run into a major injury scare and avoid a serious dip in form, local rivals Penrith have more searching questions to answer.

The Winters Park side are currently six points clear of the drop zone.

It’s their away form which is giving them most concern, although they have a home game tomorrow with a visit from high-flying Douglas.

The other home games left for Penrith are against already-relegated Anselmians, Northwich and Blackburn while their away fixtures are at Broughton Park, Warrington, Burnage and Stockport.

In a nutshell, that’s home games with three of the top-five and trips to three of the clubs in that cluster of seven battling to avoid the drop. Not an easy finish.

Cumbria League One was sorted out into a top-four and a bottom-four a fortnight ago and tomorrow sees the start of the second phase.

Each team will play six games, home and away against the three teams in their group, with points gained added on to the ones already earned in the first half of the season.

Two good games should be in prospect at the top-end of the table when leaders Keswick host Wigton, who finished fourth while second-placed Aspatria entertain Cockermouth, who achieved a very good third place.

Will those change before the end of the season?

Wigton may be some 25 points behind Keswick but there were only five points in it when the teams met in January and, having scored 62 points in their last outing, Wigton will not be underestimated by Richard Metcalf’s men.

Aspatria and Cockermouth will probably be getting sick of the sight of one another as tomorrow’s clash at Bower Park will be their third meeting this year.

The games have been tight, however, and another close contest is in prospect.

The bottom four also start their second phase with a tasty derby in prospect, St Benedict’s v Whitehaven and Hawcoat Park v Upper Eden.

There’s no split in Cumbria League Two as they continue tomorrow with five matches – Carlisle Crusaders v Aspatria Eagles; Creighton v Wigton Wanderers; Egremont v Windermere; Silloth v Moresby; Workington v Millom.