BASINGSTOKE RFC head coach Will Croker believes that he can still lead his side to promotion from London Two South despite the club’s 15-point deduction.

’Stoke’s penalty for fielding an unregistered player and falsifying the match card in their game against Guildford has been finalised, giving the league table a very different look.

Rather than sitting third in the table, Basingstoke are now 11th, 16 points behind leaders Sidcup, who will travel to Down Grange on Saturday.

Croker admits that his side are massive outsiders to finish in the top two, but he insists that it is still possible.

“It’s probably too far back to finish top, but if we can beat Sidcup and they then run away with the league, it could open up the chase for second place,” he said. “The good thing is that there is still a long way to go and you never know what might happen.

“We believe that we are one of the top sides in this league, but it is rare for a top-two side to lose more than six or seven games over the course of the season.

“With the points we have been docked, and the fact that we have already lost twice, we probably only have a game or two margin for error.

“We will have to play better than we did in losing to Brighton on Saturday, but if we take things week by week and try to perform as well as possible, then we will see where that leaves us.”

Sidcup sit top of the table, but like ’Stoke, they lost at the weekend, going down to a surprise 23-16 defeat at home to Sutton and Epsom.

Croker accepts that his side will need to be at their best to beat the leaders, but is confident that his players have the quality to do just that.

“Sidcup are a good side who have always had a strong front five and seem to be looking to score a few more tries than before,” Croker said. “They had a bit of a shock last week, but will be keen to redress the issue this week.

“We have got a lot of work to do in training this week and we need to put a few things right, but we are always confident at home and I would back us against any team in this league.”

Croker will be without the unavailable trio of Ryan Davis, Tim Richards and Ryan Travaskis, while prop Ollie John is a slight doubt with a hamstring problem. However, captain Freddie Gleadowe and winger Jobi Kochanowski are back in contention for a place in the side.