HEWORTH ARLC continued their fine run of league form with a hard-fought 34-22 win at Drighlington on Thursday night.

It was the Villagers' fourth successive win in in National Conference League group 'G' and keeps Heworth comfortably in second place in the table.

The Black and Whites thus maintained their hopes of achieving an end-of-season play-off place.

Heworth started strongly and took the lead after six minutes when an excellent pass from hooker Ben Dyson-Dent led to scrum-half Stephen Gibbs dummying his way over the line to score. Centre Tyler Craig added the extras.

The Villagers continued to dominate possession and on 19 minutes they doubled their advantage when strong running prop Jonny Payne crashed through from close range to touch down next to the posts for Craig to improve.

Ten minutes later, loose forward Liam Watling put centre Adam Dent in at the right-hand corner for a well-worked try and Craig's towering touchline conversion made it 18-0.

The hosts though hit back with two tries in five minutes before the break from substitute Steve Mcintyre and full-back Sam Thornton, both of which were goaled by scrum-half Michael Sanderson to reduce the deficit to 18-12.

The opening quarter of the second period saw Heworth's worst spell of the match with a number of contentious decisions not going their way and losing composure following niggles from the opposition.

Drighlington took full advantage after 49 minutes when winger Jake Barnes crossed wide out for an unconverted score. Then, on the hour mark, they took the lead for the only time in the game with an interception try by stand-off Kieran Roach which Sanderson improved to make it 22-18.

The Black and Whites showed plenty of character to get themselves back into the match and on 72 minutes stand-off Danny Allan sent Craig striding through a gap in the home defence to touch down and slot the conversion to nudge them two points ahead.

Four minutes later, some slick handling saw Adam Dent cross for his second try and with 30 seconds remaining, prop Liam Richmond put the icing on the cake for the Villagers after forcing his way over under the posts. Craig's fifth goal sealed a deserved win.

Allan took Heworth's man-of-the-match award, with forwards Payne, Richmond and Watling also prominent.