Dandy Town have a golden opportunity to put further distance between themselves and the chasing pack when they host Somerset Trojans tomorrow at St John’s Field.

The sides are separated by two points at the top of Premier Division with five matches remaining.

With last night’s match between Devonshire Cougars, the defending champions who are fourth, third-placed North Village postponed until Monday night because of a waterlogged pitch at Devonshire Recreation Club, a win for Town would ramp up the pressure on their rivals.

While the top five are separated by only five points, with Flanagan’s Onions sitting in fifth, the battle in the bottom half of the table is equally fascinating.

Five teams are separated by six points, with PHC Zebras the favourites to survive the drop. However, the same cannot be said for Southampton Rangers, Hamilton Parish, Wolves and St David’s, who are locked in a battle heading down the stretch.

Parish welcome Rangers to Wellington Oval, while St David’s travel to Southampton Oval to play PHC. Onions play Wolves tonight at Goose Gosling Field at 8pm.

Kieshon Smith, the Parish coach, believes all the races will go down to the wire and backed his side to stay in the top flight.

“This year is much different from past years, given everyone is tight at both ends of the table,” Smith said. “That is the beauty of the game: no one knows what will happen apart from the one fact that the ball is round.

“No one can take us lightly because we have a good side that is dedicated to what needs to be done. We have proven that we can battle against the big clubs and come out on the right end of results, so it is a matter of putting your head down and concentrating.”

The race for promotion is also reaching its climax, with four teams being separated by six points for the two available spots.

Leaders Robin Hood hold a two-point advantage over Devonshire Colts and St George’s Colts, with X-Roads a further four points back.

The table could have an interesting look about it after this weekend’s matches in which Devonshire Colts meet X-Roads at Police Field and St George’s take on Boulevard, who beat them in the corresponding fixture, at Wellington Oval.

As well as having to play each other, Devonshire Colts and St George’s also still have to play Robin Hood, who should maintain their two-point lead with maximum points against Young Men’s Social Club at Goose Gosling Field before they take on Devonshire Colts and St George’s on successive weekends.

Elsewhere in the First Division, Ireland Island Rangers and Somerset Eagles play at Malabar Field and struggling Paget Lions meet BAA Wanderers at Southampton Oval.