A TRY three minutes from time saw Heworth ARLC snatch a 26-22 victory at Bradford Dudley Hill 'A' in an exciting Yorkshire Mens League division two encounter.

The Villagers led 16-12 at the break and, with both sides striving for supremacy in the second period, the scores were level at 22-22 with quarter of an hour remaining.

A determined effort from Heworth, though, saw them prevail.

Heworth opened strongly, dominating possession and field position in the opening quarter, and went ahead after 19 minutes when the home defence failed to gather a high kick and second rower Paul Thompson pounced to score in the corner. Loose forward Joe Deighton kicked a fine touchline conversion.

They doubled their advantage five minutes later when centre Billy Sturdy broke away and fed winger Sam Johnson, who raced over for an excellent try which Deighton again converted.

Dudley Hill hit back immediately with two tries in three minutes from loose forward Andy Walker and centre Brendan McLean, both of which were goaled by full-back Matty Holroyd.

But Heworth edged back in front after scrum-half Tom Barron snapped up a loose kick by the hosts on the halfway line and outpaced several defenders to touch down. Deighton's attempted conversion rebounded back off the posts leaving the Villagers with a 16-12 half time lead.

The Bradford outfit came out firing in the second period and took the lead for the first time after 53 minutes with a try by substitute Shaun Jackson.

Holroyd added the extras and, seven minutes later, it was 22-16 when stand-off Scott Smith crossed wide out for an unconverted score.

Heworth were not to be denied, however, and, on 64 minutes, Thompson and Sturdy combined to put winger Danny Simpson over for a well-worked try that was goaled by Deighton.

That levelled the the match at 22-22 and, in a nail-biting final quarter of an hour, both sides put in strenuous efforts to win the match.

It was the Villagers who finally took the spoils late on when Simpson followed up a kick by full-back Fraser West to cross for the deciding score. Deighton was man of the match for Heworth with Sturdy, West and hooker Dave Hayes in close contention.