A gut-wrenching late winner from Allie Watts sealed a smash-and-grab victory for the University of Durham women’s hockey thirds and effectively ruled out promotion for York’s first side.

It was a bitter pill to swallow for York’s women, who had dominated the match from first to last, and their desolation at the final whistle exposed the feeling that the loss to the leaders has all but ended their chances of going up this season.

The gap between Durham and York has now been stretched to six points and, although Charlie Bartlett’s side do have a game in hand, they have to hope they win all four remaining games and that Durham slip up in at least one of their three matches to have any hopes of leap-frogging them.

The hosts dominated for 80 minutes but were limited to short corners, the majority fired straight at Durham ’keeper Kat Alexander.

A few chances fell to Hannah Gage, Frankie Hall and Rachel Faustino but none of them could be converted. There was a sickening inevitability when Watts stole home in the last five minutes to seal Durham’s conquest.

The men’s rugby firsts had more success, hammering Northumbria seconds 31-0.

Tom Weir’s side have enjoyed a strong campaign and face a tough match against the University of Manchester in two weeks that could define their season.

Manchester find themselves top of the table having won all eight of their league matches this season whereas York are fourth but level with the team in second place, and, if permutations are realised, could force a British Universities & Colleges Sport play-off.

York’s mixed bag of results continued elsewhere.

The women’s badminton firsts, enjoying a fine season, beat intra-city rivals York St John 5-3 to secure a return to winning ways.

The men’s squash firsts, who recently beat league leaders Northumbria University 3-2 in the cup, were unable to reproduce their giant-killing form in the league as they succumbed to a 4-1 loss, a margin of victory which flattered the hosts.

The men’s basketball seconds, also up against York St John, were on the receiving end of an 80-57 thrashing.

There was a 6-6 draw for the men’s lacrosse side and a thrilling 37-34 victory for the netball thirds over the University of Bradford firsts.