Jacob Ford wants to see his Bury St Edmunds side deliver a Christmas present to Haberden crowd with improved display against Henley Hawks

Jacob Ford says his Bury St Edmunds side have ‘a point to prove’ as they look to sign off for the festive break with what would be a third victory on the spin at the Greene King IPA Haberden when hosting Henley Hawks tomorrow (3pm).

A second win in seven days – to add to the less-than-convincing 24-20 success against Old Albanians – would likely see The Wolfpack (who finished 6th in 23/24) end the calendar year inside the top half of the 14-team National League 2 East table.

Two victories posted across their last six matches, both on home turf and notably becoming the first team to deny leaders Tonbridge Juddians a win, has left Bury eighth in the standings at the half-way stage of the campaign, but just three points adrift of Thames Valley outfit Henley.

And director of rugby Ford is looking for his side, who again utilised head coach Ben Penfold on pitch at fly-half against OAs, to lay down a marker ahead of turning their attention to the festivities that will begin amongst a bumper crowd spilling into the clubhouse.

Of facing Henley, he said: “It’s going to be a very similar challenge (to OAs).

“They’re a team that compete for 80 minutes and they’re very nitty-gritty, always at the breakdown.

“But again, the focus has got to be on our mindset of being in it and making sure that when we get opportunities, we’re applying pressure. Because if we don’t do that, it’s going to be a tight game and teams are going to thrive on the opportunities that we give them through us making errors or not firing any shots.”

He added: “It’s the first time I’ve had a Christmas game in three or four years here,

“So we’ll see if we can turn out for the support, just like we did the other week against Tonbridge, because we’ll have a point to prove after today.”

After putting in a shaky display against OAs last time out (report on page 53), with the St Albans-based side leading on the scoreboard until 11 minutes into the second half before falling behind again ahead of Paddy Robinson saving home blushes with three minutes to spare, Ford felt it was the strength of their set piece which had got them out of jail.

“I think both teams were probably a little bit scared of losing with he pressure of getting that final momentum before Christmas,” he reflected.

“I felt we just couldn’t get anything going in attack. We couldn’t apply pressure.

“We held our own pretty well in the second half in defence which was good. We were tough to beat, but ultimately we kept the game close through our inability to apply a little bit of pressure on them when we had opportunities to do so.

“But ultimately the reason we won the game was because our set-piece; the scrum was excellent.

“It gave us that opportunity at the end which we took.

“We stepped up in that 22 attack at the end and Paddy put in a great carry to finish it off.”

Finn McCartney is set to be back available with calls to be made on a few on the injury comeback trail.