Pocklington battled hard at Skipton in a game that could have gone either way, but though they almost pulled it off in the dying minutes, they were forced to accept second best as Skipton held on to win 13-8.

Pocklington were twice inches away from a touchdown in the opening five minutes. They opened up Skipton with a good back move but Mark Taylor's chip just eluded the support, then they were unable to get a hand on the ball when it went loose behind the line.

Skipton took play to the other end to open the scoring with a penalty, but Pocklington quickly hit back to level through a penalty by Kevin Bowling.

The crucial moment of the game came midway through the first half with bad handling by Pocklington being followed by remarkable hands from Skipton.

Pocklington put together some good passages of play only to drop the ball with the line in sight. From the scrum Skipton conjured up some magic with the ball passing through a dozen pairs of hands in a sweeping move that finished with a try in the right corner.

Pocklington made another good start to the second half but the cheap imported balls were proving difficult to kick and Pocklington saw a penalty and two drop goals off target.

They continued to have more of the play through the hard work of their pack, with lock Mark Biggin supreme in the lineout.

But Pocklington were unable to turn their good approach play into chances and Skipton took over with a drive up the middle before finally squeezing over for another try in the corner.

Pocklington responded with some sparkling handling of their own with a thrilling 60-yard bout of interpassing only for the last pass to go to ground.

Nevertheless, they held the position and scrum-half John Frank forced his way over to reduce the deficit to five points.

Updated: 12:32 Monday, March 03, 2003