Malton and Norton's dreams of a return to Twickenham in the Powergen Junior Vase were ended in the final minute of a ding-dong battle against Bradford Salem.

The lead repeatedly changed hands throughout the game, but Malton were finally undone 22-20 at the death by a converted penalty try - the second of the match.

Bradford's tactics were very simple, the aim being to stifle Malton's running game and exert pressure through their more powerful pack.

With Malton struggling to come to terms with the home scrummaging, good ball was in short supply and, although there were glimpses of what they could do, the backs were unable to break free from the shackles of a good Salem defence.

The first score went to Salem after 20 minutes when Malt were penalised at a maul. Worse was to come when Salem went for a pushover try. In trying to prevent the score a Malton player got himself into an offside position to prevent the score and a penalty try was conceded.

With the large band of supporters urging them on, Malton hit a purple patch and reduced the arrears through two Ian Cooke penalties. The second penalty leading to a Salem a prop being shown a yellow card for persistent offending.

With a numerical advantage, Malton produced the move of the game to take the lead. From a midfield ruck the ball was quickly transferred across the backs to the right wing where hooker Steve Piercy popped up to take the scoring pass to give his side an interval lead.

Salem again started the second period the stronger and kept up the pressure on the Malton defence with some good line kicking and superior rucking and mauling techniques and the gap was soon closed with an excellent drop goal from a ruck 20m out.

Malton struck back to restore the margin with another Cooke penalty before pressing the self-destruct button.

From a long kick into the Malton 22, and without any serious pressure, the ball should have been sent back upfield. Instead Malton decided to run the ball out of defence and paid the price when possession was lost and Salem were presented with a simple try to take a one-point lead.

Both sets of supporters were now on tenterhooks with either side capable of taking the spoils. Again Salem's numbers were reduced when a second player was shown a yellow card for killing the ball and again Malton took advantage through the trusty boot of Ian Cooke with two further penalties to lead 20-15.

With the clock ticking down Malton appeared to have weathered the storm, but Salem refused to give up and forced a series of scrums on the Malton line during the dying seconds.

At the last of these, and with a pushover try looking a certainty, a Malton flanker was adjudged to have prevented the score by taking out a Salem prop.

The referee had no hesitation in awarding a second penalty try to level the scores and with the conversion in front of the posts the tie was settled with the last kick of the game.

Malton battled well but on the day met a side who, although skilfully inferior, were able to disrupt their normal pattern of play to such an extent that scoring opportunities were few and far between.

The disappointment was plain to see but there is still a lot of character in the Malton side who will now throw themselves into the promotion chase with renewed vigour, starting with Saturday's trip to Ilkley.

Updated: 10:45 Monday, January 20, 2003