ROYAL Wootton Bassett coach Alan Low doesn’t quite know what to expect from Marlborough this weekend when they visit Ballards Ash in a crucial South West One (East) tie.

Bassett were stunned a week ago when mid-table Chippenham ended the club’s unbeaten run for the season – which stretched to 11 games.

A 28-13 defeat away from home dropped Low’s troops to second in the region’s second tier, with equally dominant Old Centralians now top of the pile having accumulated 51 points – Bassett boast one point less.

It’s tricky for Low to judge what team Marlborough are likely to ship across the Downs.

However, the Bassett coach expects this afternoon’s visitors to pack plenty of punch in their forward ranks amid their pursuit to poach an unlikely play-off spot.

Low said: “Marlborough have been a little bit more up and down compared to last season.

“I’m not quite sure what to expect from them, but they will be very tough up front and very physical.

“Off the back of our loss last weekend, they will travel wanting to give it a real good go.”

Despite last weekend’s defeat, alarm bells certainly aren’t ringing yet for Low.

He admits himself that the club will do more to boost players’ mentality in the build-up to this afternoon and next weekend’s tricky trip to Old Patesians.

At the same time, Low accepts he can only control the controllables.

And there will inevitably be times where they face stiff opponents.

He added: “The guys that dominated the game last weekend for Chippenham are not players we have come across before.

“In local rugby, players are generally well known. Chippenham came at us really hard and we didn’t deal with it particularly well.

“We’ve got to go back and address what we can.

“We’re still in a very strong position and we’ll do some work with the mentality of our players over the next few weeks to ensure we get out of the blocks quick.

“It’s the old cliché, but we want to deliver performances that do ourselves and club justice.

“We didn’t do that last weekend against Chippenham.”