MALTON & Norton’s losing run continued as they fell 13-10 to West Leeds at The Gannock – but a much-improved performance brought hope the slide into relegation danger can be halted.

Leeds have been among the promotion contenders in North One East all season but, in a match which saw five yellow cards and one red, they needed a late score to take the spoils back to West Yorkshire.

The result – a sixth straight loss for M&N – left the Ryedale side only four points above the bottom three with nine games left, but spokesman Bill Laidler said: "This was a much better show from Malton, who were almost back to full strength.

"Ali Coe was named man of the match but Tom Foan, Zweli Sodladla and two or three others were not far behind."

He added: “Malton were in front until 10 minutes from time although West Leeds had dominated possession for long periods.

“The crowd were kept entertained. Although a lot of the action was at close quarters, it was not a particularly rough game and both sides did produce some good running rugby when the opportunity arose.”

Most of the first half was played in home territory with Malton defending well and looking dangerous when they did break.

Not until the 40th minute was the deadlock broken, when Malton were awarded a penalty in front of the posts for a high tackle. Paul Angus converted for a 3-0 lead.

Then, from the restart and deep into added time, Malton again attacked, with a defence-splitting break by number eight Coe taking him deep into the visitors half.

With the’ defence desperately trying to recover, slick handling got the the ball to centre Nick Rangiuira, who took it at pace to cross close to the posts. Angus converted for a 10-0 interval lead.

The second half was almost a mirror image of the first.

Malton's pack were probably on top in the set-pieces but were unable to secure their own ball at lineouts. This has been a failing all season.

West Leeds narrowed the gap after 57 minutes with a penalty for not rolling away following a tackle.

On the 70-minute mark, they drew level.

Taking a lineout five metres out, they set up a maul and were moving towards the line when Malton were penalised for illegally pulling it down. A quick tap penalty caught the hosts napping, with the try being converted.

In a tense finale, Malton mounted several attacks without success - and were then hit with a sucker punch.

West Leeds got into scoring territory with a lineout close to the line. At the resultant maul, Coe appeared to have legally stripped the ball only for the referee to award the visitors a penalty.

The ball soared between the posts and Leeds had the lead for the first time.

In the dying minutes, Malton valiantly tried to make amends but saw substitute prop Nick Salisbury sent off for foul play at a scrum, and the final whistle soon sounded.