Tottonians coach Gavin Williams refuses to throw in the towel in the race for promotion.

But he does admit that his side’s fate is not in their own hands as Gosport & Fareham and Guildford look to run away at the top of London 2 South-West.

Last weekend could have been a huge turning point for Tottonains as they looked to put pressure on the leaders.

But they lost out at Gosport Park and are now 17 points adrift of their victors and trail second-placed Guildford by 13 points.

Williams, right, said: “It was a bit of an opportunity missed. We started fantastically well and should have scored in the first few minutes. Then we made some uncharacteristic errors in defence. Gosport play at pace and we missed a couple of tackles and they scored. We were disappointed but I cannot criticise the players for their attitude and effort.”

Totts start the second half of their season at home to rivals Trojans tomorrow knowing they cannot afford any slip-ups.

Williams added: “Games between us and Trojans are always closely contested and we expect more of the same. They will be up for it and so will we.”

He added: “We know it’s out of our hands. We will need to win all of our remaining games if that is where we want to be. It will require Gosport and Guildford to slip up.

“As the saying goes: ‘It’s not over until it’s over’ and we want to be in the top two.”

Ieuan Williams came on from the bench for Totts last week and proved he is fit enough to make at start at Number 8 following a long-term injury.

Stepping up the firsts tomorrow is Second XV hooker Stephen Sexton – described by Williams as a ‘robust and tigerish player’.

“Making your first team start at home against Trojans – it doesn’t get much better than that,” added Williams.

Trojans’ coach Dean Lewis was happy with his side’s performance as they picked up a losing bonus point against Guildford last weekend.

He is keen to get among the leaders.

He said: “We are able to put out one of our strongest squads of the season at the weekend.

“Totts is the closest club to us in our area and we want to be up there and in touching distance of the top four.”

On paper, Gosport and Guildford look to have easier pre-Christmas games.

Gos are also involved in a derby with a home game over third-from-bottom Portsmouth and Guildford welcome Effingham & Leatherhead who are one place off the bottom. Effingham, though, should be in confident mood after beating Winchester 58-7 last week.

Winchester are on 21 points and keen to get into the top half of the table, as are tomorrow’s opponents Weybridge Vandals who have a similar record and home advantage. Winch had the edge over their opponents when they met at North Walls Park at the beginning of the season.