Broncos rely on Air power

London Broncos' makeshift hooker Glen Air shone yet again as his side stepped up their bid for the Super League play-offs with a comprehensive 40-10 win over Castleford at The Valley last night. Air, a specialist scrum-half, scored a try in each half, including the match-winner, to take his tally to seven in six matches since his switch to the pack. The Broncos are now just two points behind faltering Leeds, who are in fifth place.

Two troubled clubs meet at Belle Vue this afternoon when Wakefield face Warrington. Trinity took a sickening blow this week when Super League ruled that they should lose four of the 10 points they have gained this season for breaching their salary cap last year.

That means that Huddersfield, the perennial wooden-spoonists, need just one point to go above them and, in all probability, consign Wakefield to the Northern Ford Premiership, from which they emerged three years ago.

Trinity will appeal on the grounds that, if they had paid players what they had promised them, they would have breached their cap, but their failure to do so kept them on the right side of the limit. If that argument succeeds, it will be a splendid example of one form of incompetence cancelling out another.

On the face of it, they will have few better chances of starting to recoup what has been taken away than against Warrington today. Beaten in their last three games, the Wolves will become coachless after Darryl van de Velde's last match in charge, at least until the announcement of his successor on Wednesday.

Fans demonstrated for Van de Velde to go now, rather than at the end of the season as planned, after last week's defeat by London. The board, after insisting that they would not do so, have bowed to that pressure, and Van de Velde – a man who has put much into the job that is not visible from the terraces – is entitled to feel disappointed at not being allowed to leave with more dignity. His reign promised much and delivered little, but not for want of passionate commitment on his part. His successor will not have an easy inheritance,

The big winners this week, without having to take the field, have been Huddersfield. Already showing distinct signs of improvement on the pitch, Wakefield's points deduction has thrown them an extra lifeline. They will now go after the win that could lift them to the unknown heights of next to bottom with renewed vigour, and even a top-five side such as Leeds might not be safe from them today.