By David Walmsley BBC Sport Online

A year ago, Wakefield Trinity Wildcats preserved their Super League status with a heart-stopping final day victory over Salford.

This season, with two games to play, Wakefield are in an almost identical position again.

Second from bottom, they must win one of those matches to escape the noose once more and condemn Salford to relegation instead.

BBC Sport Online takes a look at two sides of the story, and found that there is much more than simply pride at stake.

The fan

With two weeks of the season to go, Phil Townsend's emotions are going through the wringer - again.

"We should be getting used to it now, but it's still extremely stressful for everyone involved," the Wakefield supporters club chairman said.

"There is such a lot riding on these last two games, I'm just glad it's not me who has to go out and put in a performance that changes history."

Wakefield's original last-gasp escape left Townsend "high on emotion for a week".

Now he and the rest of the Belle Vue faithful must go through it all again.

"It is very hard at times," he said, "particularly when you see the amount of work the supporters and the management put in behind the scenes to keep the club going."

However, Townsend recognises it needs more than graft to escape the cycle of failure.

"The magic ingredient is money," he says, "and there is no sugar daddy on the horizon who is going to put several millions into the club."

The administrator

For Wakefield chief executive Diane Rogerson, possible relegation is about much more than wounded pride.

Should Trinity slip through the Super League trap door, the club will be forced to radically review its operation as the cost of relegation bites.

"It really is your life in their hands," she said.

"Seventeen players will run out onto that pitch on Sunday and how they play will determine how we work and live our lives for the next year.

"If we go down there will obviously have to be some major changes.

"A lot of our sponsorship agreements are conditional on retaining Super League status."

Relegation would be a cruel irony for Rogerson, as she believes the club is better-equipped than ever to avoid a third successive survival fight.

"Last year, we had no coaching team in place until December.

"This time, we already know who the coaching team will be so pre-season training can begin much earlier and we will be far better prepared.

"We are also in a better position off the field and we're very optimistic that things will improve next season if we stay up."