IT goes without saying, but Newcastle Falcons desperately need some points if they are to avoid relegation this season.

However, there is another commodity that would be equally useful, and it too is in short supply.

Time would be of benefit to Gary Gold’s side, but it is running out. After tonight’s home game with Aviva Premiership leaders Harlequins, Falcons have just five more matches in which to save their skin.

There could be a lifeline if the Championship title is claimed by a club that does not meet the regulations governing promotion to the topflight, but with second-tier leaders Bristol ticking all the boxes, Newcastle cannot rely on assistance from elsewhere.

Initially at least, they will have to look to do this themselves, and that means overhauling the six-point deficit that separates them from a Wasps side that are currently in a freefall every bit as dramatic as their own.

On the evidence of their last home game, a 19-10 win over London Irish, they are capable of clambering to safety. Any repeat of last weekend’s performance however, when they were hammered 42-15 at Leicester, and the future will look bleak.

“We need to start becoming consistent, but we do not have a lot of time,” said Gold, whose short-term contract is due to expire at the end of the season. “We have a long way to go as a team. I knew that when I came here a month ago, and it is very disappointing because you cannot afford to play well one week and then drop off the next.

“This is about standing together in adversity, showing support for each other and realising if we get our systems right we are quite a good team. When you are in adversity and your backs are against the wall, as we are right now, that is the time when you have to stick together.

“That is one of the biggest things I would like in my short time here, because you are always going to have good days and bad days.”

Falcons could do with experiencing one of their good days tonight as they face a Quins side that have won 13 of their 16 league matches this season.

Their task has at least been helped by some much-needed positive injury news, with props Grant Shiells and Euan Murray both passing fitness tests to take their place in the starting XV.

Murray, who is available thanks to a blank weekend in the Six Nations, has overcome a calf tear, and his presence could be vital given the strength of Harlequins’ scrummaging.

He will be joined in the front row by hooker Rob Vickers, who will make his 100th Falcons appearance after spending five seasons at the club.

“Harlequins are a very good side, without a doubt,” said Vickers, who joined Falcons after graduating from Durham University. “There are a lot of things we can draw from their game and apply to our own, but what remains the most important thing is that we take a step forward from last weekend at Leicester.

“Certain areas of set-piece, carrying and defence need to be put into better order, and if we can get ourselves playing well then we should be able to suffocate Harlequins and prevent them from doing a lot of what they want to do.”

Gold has made two changes to the side that lost at Leicester.

Adrian Fondse returns from a one-game ban, while Taiasina Tu’ifua is preferred at blindside flanker with Ally Hogg moving to number eight. New signings James Goode and Adam Balding are named among the replacements.

FALCONS: Goosen, Bedford, Helleur, Fitzpatrick, Manning, Gopperth, Pilgrim; Shiells, Vickers, Murray, Fondse, Swinson, Tu’ifua, Welch, Hogg.

Replacements: Mayhew, Golding, Wells, Goode, Wilson, Balding, Chudley, Tait.