Bradford Salem travelled to Pocklington in search of an eighth consecutive win in a run stretching back over 30 years, Pock's last victory coming in a Yorkshire Division One league game on 17th January 1996 when they secured a narrow 17-16 victory at Feathers Field.

However, in spite of their record against Salem in recent years, the home side, who currently occupy second spot in the table, would still have considered themselves firm favourites coming into the game.

Nevertheless, they were given a clear indication that Salem would be no pushovers when, in only the second minute, Morgan Mirzaali, who was a constant menace, broke clear and, despite being hauled down short of the line, quick recycled ball allowed Will Eastell to cross for his 10th try of the season to give his side an early 5-0 lead.

5 minutes later, the hosts cut the deficit to 5-3 courtesy of a penalty from fly-half Harry Matthews but for the next 20 minutes it was all Salem.

Despite being on top, referee Andy Williamson did Salem no favours as he failed to punish the deliberate knock down of Andy Robinson's potential try-scoring pass as well as missing a trip on Eastell who had the line at his mercy.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, just when it looked like Salem were certain to score, the ball went loose enabling Pock to hack the ball downfield. Two more kick chases and a fortunate bounce allowed winger Jed Jackson to score a try totally against the run of play and, just as you thought things couldn't get any worse for Salem, Matthew's miscued conversion from the touchline, which never got more than 3 metres off the ground, somehow scraped over off the cross-bar to put the hosts 10-5 in front.

Salem continued to press for the remainder of the half but again they could not turn the pressure into points.

In the second half it was Pocklington who were first on the attack and Salem got a reprieve when the referee gave a goal line drop out after judging a Pock player had been held up over the line.

Salem then suffered a big blow when Misi Taulapapa was harshly yellow carded for a tackle which was no more than chest high.

Pocklington soon made the most of their extra man when Jackson crossed for his second try despite the fact that the final pass was blatantly forward. Matthews again landed the conversion from the touchline to increase his side's lead to 17-5.

To compound Salem's woes, Salem were then reduced to 13 men as Tom Cummins was sin-binned when seemingly turning over possession legally at a breakdown.

With a 2 man advantage, Pocklington immediately threw the ball wide but Eastell intercepted on his own line. The Salem speedster raced more than 70 metres downfield but was agonisingly caught short of the line. However, Pock cynically prevented the release of the ball resulting in a yellow card and this time Salem took full advantage as Mirzaali scored from a quick tap, Alfie Abbott adding the extras to reduce the arrears to 17-12.

A string of penalties in their favour got Salem to within striking distance and from a catch and drive 10 metres out, man of the match Mirzaali drove over for his second try to bring the scores level at 17-17.

Although Abbott missed the difficult conversion which could have won them the match, Salem still looked like they would come away with a creditable draw with the game now entering stoppage time.

Very much reminiscent of England against France in Paris, Salem just needed to secure the ball from the restart and kick the ball off the park.

However, inexplicably, they chose to run the ball from inside their own 22 in search of an unlikely win. This high-risk strategy back-fired when after several carries, Abbott was caught in possession and, inevitably, referee Williamson penalised him for not releasing right in front of the sticks.

Matthews then stepped up to convert the simple penalty to maintain his 100 per cent record with the boot and clinch a last-gasp 20-17 victory with literally the last kick of the game.