Malden Wanderers face a fight for survival in the Premier Division of the Surrey Championship, but skipper Simon Crampton is stoical in the face of relegation.

Following a seven-wicket thrashing at Weybridge on Saturday, Wanderers are rock bottom and need to win at least two of the remaining three games to stand any chance of staying up.

They host Sutton this weekend in their final home game of the season, before trips to Reigate Priory and Spencer.

The last time Wanderers were in a survival dogfight in 2010, they were relegated, however, in 2009 they survived another dogfight by just five points – leading Crampton to believe anything is possible.

He said: “We always knew that Weybridge was going to be a tough game, they have great strength in depth and are challenging for the title.

“But with three weeks to go we are still in the hunt. We have been here before, we were in a relegation fight and turned it around.

“We are familiar with the situation. They guys will come into training this week, and we’ll get ourselves in the best possible chance.”

He added: “This has been such a competitive league this year, when the likes of Michael Carberry feel they will be tested in the league, it says it all.

“Our problem has come when we have not been able to finish off the job. We had Sunbury and Sutton on nine wickets and could not get that last wicket, which has cost us.”

Against Weybridge, Wanderers’ opener Shaun Cousens hit 52 but had little support as the strugglers were skittled for 133 in the 40th over.

Wanderers had the title challengers on 2-2, but a 118 partnership took the game away.

They were not helped when spinner Giles Puckle retired with a suspected broken finger, and although the suspicions were unfounded, he will miss this weekend’s vital clash due to family commitments.

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