LUCTONIANS director of rugby Alex Davidson believes a two-week break could not come at a better time as the North Herefordshire club aim to kick-start their National League Two North campaign.

The Kingsland side are rock bottom of the division having won only one once this season and are not in action again until next Saturday due to the World Cup final taking place this weekend.

The November 7 match is against Caldy before Lucs host Preston Grasshoppers at Mortimer Park.

A trip to Coventry-based Broadstreet, who are one place above Lucs in the league table, then follows.

“We need to get league points on the board before Christmas because otherwise we’ll be staring straight down the barrel,” said Davidson.

“We put on a big performance at Sedgeley Park earlier this month and a break comes at an ideal time for us.

“John Kelly will be returning home from New Zealand to help from upfront and Matt Hackley, who has had a fractured wrist, should also be back with us.

“Jimmy Norris, Rhyan Scott-Young and Geraint Langdon have also been out, but we hope they will be back soon.”

Luctonians are nine points from safety having lost seven of their eight games and were beaten 26-8 by league leaders Macclesfield last Saturday.

But Davidson felt there were positives to take from the game.

“From our point of view, we were disappointed with the performances against Chester and Sale, so our preparation was about defence and I think we got that right against a strong side,” said Davidson.

“They were throwing everything at us and after they went further ahead, they relaxed a little bit. We should have therefore used our possession better and we need to get the balance right between defence and attack.”

Davidson added there is still a strong team spirit among the group despite their lowly league position.

“We were very positive after Saturday,” he said.

“We have got a group of players who know where they are and can see light at the end of the tunnel.

“A few wins changes a lot of things because you can rapidly go up to mid-table.”

Davidson therefore believes the return of Jimmy Norris should add some much-needed width and help them get more tries on the board.

“Going away from home, we always like to score four tries and get it out wide, but at the moment we have are just hoping to get within seven points,” said Davidson.

Saturday’s match remained scoreless for 25 minutes before Macclesfield eventually went over through a rolling maul, with Dave Marwick being credited with the try.

After the break, Louis Silver added a penalty but two other wayward attempts meant the home side were still behind.

Prop Mike Jones and flanker Henry Monkley were then yellow carded for Luctonians, which led to Macclesfield running away with the game.

Franky Barker crossed over after collecting a ball from scrum-half Jordan Brookes before Elliot Brierley finished out wide. Louis Barker, who converted those tries, then went over himself before he added another two points with the boot. Luctonians captain Dan Smith grabbed a late try five minutes from the end.