RELEGATED Pocklington said goodbye to the North Premier division in a game which mirrored their league season - they went down after battling away against powerful opponents and finishing with a flourish.

Though Pocklington had won their previous two games, the trip to third-placed, semi-pro Harrogate was always going to be a different proposition and they lost 43-22.

Late scores, though, meant they left holding heads high.

Pock's young side did well early on playing up the hill and full-back Christian Pollock gave them the lead with a seventh-minute penalty.

But they dropped the restart as a prelude to a period of sustained Harrogate pressure. The visitors defended stoutly and three times cleared their lines, but Gate eventually darted over from a close-range scrum.

Pocklington were giving away two or three stone a man but launched a few more dangerous attacks before their handling let them down. Harrogate surged downfield and, after going close at both corners, they held the position and were rewarded with tries on either flank.

Pock's pack rallied and hammered at the Harrogate line before the interval. Twice they set up catch-and-drive positions and strained their way towards the whitewash, but the hosts' experience came to the fore as they killed the ball, happy to lose a man to the sin-bin as they ensured they kept their opponents at bay.

Harrogate began launching their big men at pace in the second period and Pock's lighter combatants started to feel the pace.

A quick tap penalty set up a converted home try, Pocklington lost hooker Dave Birch to the sin-bin and Harrogate took advantage with another converted try to move out of sight.

Pocklington still had their moments - replacement wing Dan Elliot was a fingertip away from an interception on the left - but the free-running home backs started to do real damage and they suddenly cut loose to score three times in quick succession.

At 43-3 with 15 minutes to go, Pocklington were staring at the wall. But they regrouped and threw everything into a determined rally.

Twice the forwards were held up after a pack rumble, while backs Jonty Peters and Pollock made breaks up the middle. When the pack pressed again, Pollock took a quick tap penalty to wrestle over and convert.

Pock, reinvigorated, charged back down the hill. Harrogate's forwards tried all their tricks to again to kill the momentum but the visitors found a bit more and the desperate defence conceded a penalty try and saw two men yellow-carded.

Pock kept going to the death and ended the game and the season on a positive note.

Pollock broke from halfway, then Peters weaved to within sight of the posts and his lobbed pass found Pollock again to plunge over.