Despite Canterbury’s men appearing doomed in hockey’s NOW: Pensions Premier Division, skipper Tom Richford insists they will ‘keep fighting until there is nothing left to fight for.’

The city club are bottom and now effectively nine points adrift of even a hope of safety, facing a must-win game at fourth-bottom Cannock on Sunday (2pm) if any realistic hopes of avoiding the drop are to stay alive.

Second-bottom Southgate are eight points ahead with a superior goal-difference, with both teams having five games remaining. Whoever finishes second-bottom faces a play-off with a team from the division below to decide who will form part of the Premier Division in 2015/16.

Richford said: “Should we go down then we’d try to hold on to our strongest players, maybe add a couple more, and of course we’d look to bounce straight back, but nothing is decided yet.

“(Eighth-spot and) Automatic safety might be beyond us with five games to go, but we will keep fighting until there is nothing left to fight for.

“We could still get into that play-off game, and if we could do that, then who knows, but it’s up to us to start winning first.”