Alan Kilshaw has warned his players there will be no excuses if they fail to perform in their pivotal clash with Dewsbury.
The Hornets find themselves four points adrift of safety after an awful start to the season that has seen them badly hindered by injury.
But Kilshaw’s side have put in impressive displays throughout the season against some of the big hitters in the competition, most notably nearly shocking Toronto Wolfpack.
However, their displays against the sides around them haven’t been of the same standard, and Kilshaw says that must change quickly.
“I think that’s been the case for the last two seasons,” he said.
“Shaun Lunt said we were probably the best team we’d played last season when Hull KR were in the division. But there’s no pressure on you in that game and there’s also the fear factor of being embarrassed if you don’t turn up.
“We need that mentality every single week though. It’s a must perform against Dewsbury.”
The Hornets have been stung with further injury woe this week, leaving them so depleted that strength and conditioning coach Miles Greenwood could be forced out of retirement
“We’ve got a small squad and we’re down to the bare bones.
“We’re not catching a break at the minutes, we brought in Taylor Welch and he’s now out for the season. But it gives young lads a chance to play and all we can ask for is maximum effort.
“We knew it was going to be tough. There are some factors there you can’t control. All we can do is focus week to week on each game. We’re not looking at the table, there’s 20 games to go and if we get some bodies back we’ll be ok. The frustrating thing is we still haven’t been too far away in games. There are some things we can control that aren’t excusable and we have to sort them out.”