MANDEVILLE, Manchester –The semi-final race in Zone Two of the JB Rum/Captain’s Bakery Manchester Major League is still very much alive, but it is the battle for survival between iconic parish team Mile Gully and Kendal FC that will highlight the triple-header at the Kirkvine Sports Club thiss evening.

Match time is 5:00 pm on Field B, with the Comfort-Ricam Academy encounter set to kick off simultaneously on Field A.

Zone leaders Hillstars (33 points) and second-placed Downs (27) will meet in the top-the-table clash on Field B at 7:00.

But so delicate is this relegation six-pointer, former Premier League campaigners Mile Gully just cannot afford to lose. Do so and they will be playing Division One football next season — a competition that they have not graced since the 1980s.

To say it has been a poor season for the north-western Manchester side would be an understatement. Not only are they find life difficult in their group; they also the worst performing side in the entire competition, sitting at the base of the overall points standing on the 10 points they have managed to earn from one win, seven draws and six defeats.

“It is just one of those seasons where things are not going our way,” said Mile Gully coach Marlon Hylton.

“Just last season we were in the semi-finals of the Major League. And we also made it to the semi-finals of the parish knockout. But we lost a few players to scholarships, because we are a club that depends on youngsters. Yes, we also have gained a few players coming up through the system. But, as I said, things are not really going our way this season.”

For instance?

“We have conceded a lot of late goals, which either resulted in defeat or a draw. Plus, we have not been scoring enough goals,” noted Hylton.

But he added: “We are confident that we will (avoid the drop). History is on the line — we have never been relegated from the Major League — and the players know what is at stake.”

Fellow strugglers Kendal have fared just a shade better than Mile Gully this season. But having recorded a competition-high eight drawn games and only one victory, the former Major League champions now find themselves at the wrong end of the table, just one point above the drop zone.

Defeat to Mile Gully would not mean the end of Kendal, but it would certainly take destiny out of their hands. To stay up, they would then have to win their last game of the season and hope that Mile Gully fail to win theirs.