A WIN against Weymouth Reserves tomorrow would guarantee Hamworthy Recreation the Dorset Premier League championship crown – but Portland United boss Gary Bailey knows his side will be ready to pounce should things go awry for the Magna Road outfit.

The Blues need to beat Poole Borough at Grove Corner and hope Jake Richmond’s Terras can do them a favour at the Bob Lucas Stadium if the islanders are to stand any chance of finishing first.

Elsewhere, Merley, who can pip Hamworthy and Portland to top spot as they have three games left, travel to St Mary’s Field to take on Bridport Reserves.

Lewis Whyton and Charlie May return from illness and suspension respectively to boost the Portland squad, while Carl Mutch (back) should be involved too, but Ross Doidge (groin) is likely to miss out.

“I fully expect Ham Rec to win their next two games,” said Bailey. “I don’t see an upset happening. But we’ve got to look after ourselves, that’s all we can do.

“We’ll look to win our last two games and finish the season with a 100 per cent home record, which would be a great achievement in itself. It’s imperative we do the business because it would be awful if Ham Rec were to slip up and we did the same.

“And no teams in this league are just going to fold, so you have to make sure you are on your game, Ham Rec included.

“All sides in this league are capable of beating each other and you don’t want to get your fingers burnt.

“It would be nice to beat Poole and keep our season going until the last match against Merley.”

Praising his players’ efforts, Bailey added: “The lads have been terrific for me this season and I can’t fault their attitude.

“You take the game at Poole Borough a few weeks ago, it didn’t look like it was going to happen for us but the lads dug in and got the result.”

On that occasion the Blues turned around a 1-0 half-time deficit to win 2-1 with goals from Shaun Bessant and Adam Linaker.

Meanwhile, Bailey gave Echosport an update on his club’s push to gain a place in the Wessex League.

“There is no big announcement yet,” he said. “We’re waiting on grants to see if we can get the floodlights sorted out. We’ll hopefully have some news in the next week or so, but it’s out of our hands until then.

“The ground grading went really well, it’s just the floodlights that are the issue, but fingers crossed we can get them fixed.”

All games kick-off at 3pm.