YORK 46 DURHAM CITY 20

Having competed well for three-quarters of this match and hauled themselves back into contention to trail 24 – 20, Durham City were blown away by a late York surge in the last 20 minutes as the home side ran in 3 tries to earn a well-deserved win that takes them to the top of the North 1 East League.

Bitterly cold and blustery conditions made life difficult for both sides and, playing up the slope but with the wind advantage, City penned the home side in their own half for much of the opening quarter. York’s defence stood firm however, aided by City’s propensity for conceding penalties, and it was not until the 24th minute that the visitors got some reward, scrum-half Paul Armstrong kicking a penalty to nudge them ahead.

It was not to last though as York responded with a good attack on the right and a fine off-load sent lock Chris Fox over for their first try. Stand-off Declan Cusack converted and they were into an unlikely lead and starting to get into their stride.

Five minutes before the interval, they struck again as they ran from a ruck and Cusack scored before City kept themselves in the hunt when winger Ellis Hook went over in the left corner as the ball was worked wide from some good phase play to take the score to 12 – 8 at the break.

Two further York tries in the 10 minutes after the re-start through centre Sam Forbes and winger Ben Dyson-Dent, one of which Cusack converted to stretch their lead to 24 – 8 seemed to have taken the match well away from City, but they came roaring back, winger Tom Elliott forcing over for a try in the right corner and Armstrong nipping over from a 5 metre scrum and converting as they piled on the pressure to narrow the gap to just 4 points.

But York’s response was immediate and decisive. Recovering the ball from the kick-off, they ran for winger Rob Hodges to score, No.8 Shane Goulding followed suit with a fine break up the middle and centre Will Fordy finished it off with their seventh try. Full-back Liam Hessay converted 2 of them and added a late penalty to give York what in the end was a convincing victory.

CITY: Nathan Bushnell; Tom Elliott, David Elliott, Craig Dominick, Ellis Hook; Charlie Scott, Paul Armstrong ©; Benny Parkinson, Kenny Reader, Will Elliott, Kevin Showler, Chris Metcalfe, Will Jewitt, Simon Ord, Peter Dent.

Replacements: Michael Hay, Josh Cotton, Dominic Warby.