IT is as-you-were for Heworth at the foot of National Conference division two after an incredible turnaround in the last ten minutes saw them lose 34-15 at home to Stanningley.

The Villagers led 15-8 just after the hour mark and only fell behind in the 72nd minute, with the visitors piling on the points in the closing stages.

Heworth thus remain on 12 points but crucially none of the teams around them won, leaving them still three points above the re-election zone, with all the lowly teams having five games to play, barring bottom-club Saddleworth, who have one game in hand.

Stanningley, on the other hand, still have some hope of squeezing into the promotion reckoning, albeit very faint and dependent on the teams above them - including York Acorn, who were not in action - dropping points.

Those outside chances were not being helped at half-time as an excellent first 40 minutes had Heworth 11-4 ahead at the interval, the Villagers responding to an early Mike Banks try to cross through Gareth Kirby with Carl Potter adding three goals and a drop goal.

Stand-off Martin Wood pulled back a try for the visitors but again Heworth - for whom youngsters Matt Berry, John Coulson and John Bird impressed - responded as Potter put in Will Neary.

However, the turnaround was instigated by the introduction on the hour of Russ Cartmell, who crossed for two tries, set up another touchdown for hooker Danny Berrell, and added three goals.

Banks also scored a second try and Chris Rouse's effort on the final hooter sealed the win.

Heworth spokesman Ken Sykes said: "They put us under quite a bit of pressure towards the end and when they went ahead the energy just sapped out of us. But it was a valiant effort and we probably deserved a bit more out of the game."

Updated: 10:52 Monday, April 04, 2005