YORK RUFC lost ground at the top end of North One East as they fell to a 35-29 defeat at West Leeds with the final play of the game.

The visiting Clifton Park outfit had a one-point lead with a minute remaining but the hosts' full-back Jack Marshall scored at the death to give West Leeds their first home win of term.

York have now failed to win their last three matches in the league and have subsequently slipped from first to fourth spot.

They will look to end that run on Saturday at eighth-placed Bridlington, who suffered a 17-7 defeat at Malton & Norton at the weekend.

On a tight and, in patches, muddy pitch, West Leeds took an early two-try lead, with captain Sam Neave sniping through the middle of a ruck to open the scoring before Simon Mitchell touched down as the hosts made their way quickly down the field from the restart. The conversion was good for one of the tries.

York applied the pressure for the next 10 minutes, which saw Dec Penny, the West Leeds flanker, yellow-carded after consecutive team penalties.

West Leeds had been defending well but York chose a scrum option following the penalty, which saw Shane Goulding break from the scrum and link with Toby Atkin to score and get the Clifton Parkers back into the game.

West Leeds, reduced to 14, tried to hold York out but with Steve Johnson and Dan Coe in the front-row, the York scrum was excellent and Campbell Thomson exploited the numbers committed to defending the scrum to score York’s second try. Jon Dawes added the extras after missing the previous penalty.

Another penalty for York saw the ball spread wide and winger Harry Jinks scored in the corner to put the visitors ahead, but West Leeds narrowed the half-time deficit to 17-15 as they kicked a penalty of their own.

West Leeds retook the lead with a penalty but then had Ste Anderson yellow-carded as York encamped themselves in home 22. Shane Goulding then received the ball in the back-line and beat the first-up defence, and the cover could not stop him scoring a bonus-point try under the posts for Dawes to convert.

West Leeds shot back in front from a Campbell Breakwell tap penalty before Penny was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. Dawes' kick from the penalty was wide.

Breakwell then kicked a penalty for 14-man West Leeds to go four points up before Dawes gave York another slender advantage, crossing but failing to convert.

But with the minute remaining, Marshall showed a great turn of speed and broke through the York defence to win the game for the 14 men in the last play. The conversion was good.