York passed up a great opportunity to step up front of the Yorkshire ECB Premier League when losing by 40 runs at Barnsley.

Title rivals Harrogate defeated Rotherham by ten wickets to steal a single-point lead over York and set up a humdinger of a clash between the two sides at Clifton Park today.

York have led the league since the first match and were in pole position to take the Barnsley scalp when Nick Thornicroft, on loan from Yorkshire to Essex, claimed four early wickets.

A run-out by Marcus Wood slumped the South Yorkshire club to 44-5, but a stand of 140 between Peter Hepworth and Graham Batty rescued Barnsley's fortunes to set York a formidable total of 213 on a pitch where 160 was par.

Like Barnsley, several York batters got a start, but only a stand of 66 between Marcus Wood and Thornicroft seemed likely to threaten their opponents' total.

Batty completed a succesful day with four wickets and York left nine overs on the table as they fell 40 runs short.

Updated: 10:57 Monday, August 29, 2005