BEN BOOTHAM was the hero as Malton & Norton took a giant step towards safety in North One East in heart-stopping style - snatching a 20-18 victory at Durham City deep into stoppage time.

Durham, sitting in the third relegation spot, looked set for a victory which would have dragged Malton right back into the mire.

But, with the final whistle due any second, prop Bootham set off on a 22-metre charge to the whitewash.

The conversion missed but the final whistle sounded, leaving M&N to celebrate a win which for a long period appeared to be eluding them.

Malton are now 11 points ahead of Durham with only 15 on offer, with Dinnington also sat in between as a buffer.

The game began superbly for Malton as they scored after little more than a minute.

Durham failed to find touch with a clearance kick which allowed Malton to run the ball back through full-back Callum Stark, then flanker George Harrison, and then Boothman, who put second-row Ali Fothergill over.

However, once in the lead, Malton have had a tendency to take a step back and that was the case again here as they were unable to gain any worthwhile lineout possession and allowed the hosts to turn over possession at the breakdown too frequently.

When Malton did steal the ball at a Durham lineout they immediately handed it back. The hosts quickly spread it wide for the equalising try.

From the restart, Malton regained the lead with a Paul Angus penalty after Durham infringed at a ruck, but it didn't last long.

Handling errors and misguided passes from both sides saw possession frequently switch.

Then, midway through the half, Malton skipper Sam Triffitt was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on close to his own line, the penalty levelling the scores - with M&N perhaps lucky the referee did not award a penalty try.

The visitors seemed to have otherwise weathered the storm but another penalty for a high tackle on the stroke of half-time gave Durham an interval lead.

Five minutes into the second half, Fothergill broke from defence with a strong run, and quickly recycled ball was spread wide to wing Tom Clark who crossed for his side's second try which Angus converted for a 15-11 lead.

But Durham raised their game and their pressure paid dividends when a break through sloppy defence in centre-field was allowed to continue, a converted solo try the outcome.

The host kept up the pressure, camped in the Malton 22, twice unable to ground the ball when they did cross the whitewash.

They looked set to see the game out as they entered injury time still in the Malton half - but the visitors made one last push.

Strong drives got them to within 30 metres of the home line and from a series of pick-and-go rucks, Boothman set off on a run from 22 metres to outpace and out-muscle the covering defence for a try in the corner with the clock showing four minutes of stoppage time gone.