It’s not often that seventh v eighth in the league table is the biggest match of the day but for Carrickfergus and Cliftonville Academy, it is really win or bust tomorrow — otherwise they will almost certainly be in a relegation battle for the rest of the season.

After tomorrow’s round of matches in the NCU Premier League, the 10 teams will have only two more games before the top flight splits into a top six — chasing the title — and a bottom four.

There are currently eight points (two wins) between sixth and seventh so to stay in contention for that top six spot, realistically only a win will do for the teams at Middle Road tomorrow.

The visitors claimed only their second win of the season last week but it could so easily have been their fourth if events had gone their way over the last few weeks.

After beating Woodvale in round three, by the huge margin of 88 runs, they lost an 18-over game against defending champions Lisburn on the fourth ball of the last over, went down by 15 runs to Civil Service North before a change of luck saw them beat in-form Instonians last week by 56 runs.

Leading the revival at the Castle Grounds is new Director of Cricket Jared Wilson, who knows what it is like to be a winner after leading Newbuildings to their surprise Premiership title last season.

“Yes, we are doing well but we could be in a completely different position. If we had won those close games, we would be alongside the top six and we have a positive run rate,” says Wilson.

“Last week’s performance against Instonians was particularly impressive as we were missing four players — Max Burton, our captain, Varun Chopra, Andrew Forbes and Dave Reid — so we know we have that sensational team performance in us.

“It would be great if it was on Saturday but, at the end of the day, it’s just another game of cricket and we will just focus on what we have been doing well the past few weeks and tackle the game like every other.”

Wilson hit 95 last week, sharing a fourth wicket stand of 198 with Indian professional Abishek Raut who scored 121, and is happy with his own form, consistently getting past 30 in every match before finally converting against Instonians.

“As long as I’m contributing, that’s all that matters,” he insists.

“The 100 last week would have been great but we won the game so I certainly didn’t leave disappointed. And apart from Abishek, there have been plenty of other good performers this season with Frank (Francis Collins) leading the team’s batting charts and Ben Kane is already on 20+ wickets after less than 10 games so that is really good.

“I hope those two get a chance with the Emerging Knights this summer if they are keen on playing at a higher level.”

Wilson also knows about playing at the higher level, a regular on the North West Warriors team this season in both white-ball formats and, still living in the area, he admits that the travelling four days a week, up and down, is exhausting but he is enjoying the new role off the field.

“I lead all the junior coaching practice sessions as well as the senior team and their warm-ups,” he explains.

“Abishek has actually taken a lot of the workload off me in terms of his thinking and the way going about things. He’s been really good to work alongside this summer and hopefully it leads to more success on the field.”

Even winning two of their last three — Cliftonville Academy have still to face CIYMS and Derriaghy — will not guarantee that top six slot as the current teams in those positions need only one more win to get what should be the safety limit of 20 points.

So tomorrow, wins for CIYMS against Woodvale and Instonians at basement side Derriaghy should confirm their position after the split as will the winners of the games at Lisburn and Waringstown, where North Down and Civil Service North are the respective visitors.

However, as last weekend’s results showed, nothing can be taken for granted with Derriaghy claiming their first win of the season, against Waringstown.

Tonight – NCU T20 Cup (6.00pm): Cliftonville Academy v CIYMS