Head coach Matt Corker is urging Canterbury’s out-of-form players to become masters of their own destiny as they aim to end the year with a derby win.

Canterbury’s wait for a first National League 2 East victory since early October went on last weekend as they suffered a 19-14 home defeat to Henley Hawks.

This Saturday, Corker’s men visit rivals Tonbridge Juddians - provided the match beats the weather - as they aim to avenge their derby defeat earlier this season.

Corker is optimistic brighter times could be on the horizon for Canterbury, who are only four points clear of the relegation zone.

He said: “I think that’s what is amazing about sport. The thing for us is, if we didn’t have these really good patches and we weren’t showing the ability to play some of the quality rugby that we are, it would be a very different challenge.

“The challenge for us is just putting a performance together.

"I have no doubt, when we do that, we will become quite a formidable team. That last step can be a big one.

“It’s important we don’t sort of start wishing for things to change and become victims.

• Report: Canterbury 14-19 Henley

“We need to be masters of our destiny and just stick to the process, focus on our strengths and make sure that we maximise those.”

At Canterbury in September, the hosts started well but were beaten 44-35 by Tonbridge, who are third in the table.

Corker, though, thinks his side are in a better place now.

He explained: “We shot out the blocks and had a really good lead, and they came back.

“I think part of our problem last time was we had lads in the squad that, unfortunately, missed pre-season for a variety of reasons so they weren’t quite conditioned.

"We lost a couple of key players actually that day, who were injured but I think the squad is in a much more robust shape now.

“We’re much fitter and stronger, and I’m looking forward to seeing some really big performances.

“It’s an emotional day. Local derbies are why people play and I think that’s what makes it exciting.

“If the snow lets us get on the pitch, we’re very much looking forward to it.”

Canterbury did well to get their match against Henley on but, despite centre Tom Halliday scoring an early try, Frank Reynolds’ penalties and the home side being convinced they had scored later on - only to be denied by the officials - they were consigned to another defeat.

On the work behind-the-scenes to get the game on, Corker, who spent this Tuesday with London Irish’s Academy, said: “We did try pretty hard.

“We had pitch inspections and we are fortunate with where the pitch is, because it’s in the sun a lot, which made it possible.

“The disappointing thing for us was we had all the chances - we created an awful lot - but, actually, finishing them really was the problem that we had. It was a much better performance than in recent weeks, it was much closer.

“We definitely created situations to win the game.

"We feel that we scored a try - there’s a photo of it over the line - but unfortunately, the linesman or the referee didn’t see it get floored. So that was a disappointment for us as well, just to get so close.

“The flip of it, and something we are sort of struggling with at the moment, is that we work very hard for our points and, with some of the tries we concede, we just allow teams through errors to score relatively easily.

“People miss tackles - that’s something that happens and you have to work with that - but there’s a couple of system errors in there where they sneak through when they shouldn’t.”

After Saturday, Canterbury return to league action on January 7 when they host bottom side Westcliff.