Head coach Carl Forster says his side must beat play-off rivals Hunslet to avoid a “pretty pointless” end to their League One campaign.

Haven, who returned to winning ways with a 50-13 victory over Hemel Stags last weekend, welcome Hunslet to the Recreation Ground on Sunday knowing their promotion hopes hang by a thread.

Callum Phillips, Conor Holliday and James Tilley, who were all unavailable last weekend, will come back into contention for the key clash.

But Chris Taylor, who picked up a knee injury against Doncaster, will miss the final three games.

Forster admitted failing to win against Hunslet would all but end his side’s play-off bid

“At the end of the day, it’s knockout rugby now. We’ve got our toughest test to come on Sunday, with the league and where they are.

“The camp is happy, we’ve got a big four weeks and it’s potentially the last four weeks we’ll have together.

“It’s a tight group and we’ll do our best.

“They’re two points ahead and we need to be level. We’ve put ourselves in this position and if we lose this weekend I think it’ll make the final two weeks pretty pointless.

“We know we can win, and win all three.”

He added: “I’m sure all the squad want to go out on a high together. I probably won’t be the only one parting ways.

“We’ll try to do what’s best for the club.”

The win over Hemel halted a run of three defeats for Haven, after they lost to promotion rivals Doncaster, Oldham and Bradford.

Forster said: “It was relieving, the bus back was a happy bus. Our group isn’t really used to losing so they react badly. It was nice to get a win and now we need to build on it.”

League bosses are discussing promoting a third team to the Championship this season amid plans for a restructure.

“I’m told a decision will be made in the week before the end of the season, in our position we can’t afford to lose anyway,” said Forster. “We just need to win our three games.”

Club legend Carl Sice was named in the squad for the Hemel tie but didn’t feature. He rejoined the club, along with record try-scorer Craig Calvert, to help out Forster’s injury-hit squad.

The coach said: “Sicey has got a better chance, he’s had quite a few training sessions.

“When they signed we did speak about it and say it was literally just for cover. If they’re not used, they’re not used.

“It’s nice for us to have them there and we could see Sicey before the end of the season.”

Forster described Taylor’s injury as “a big, big blow” but said the injury isn’t as bad as first feared.