By Dave Ward

HEWORTH ARLC came agonisingly close to a National Conference League play-off upset after taking premier division side Lock Lane to golden-point extra time - where they lost 38-34.

The third division Group 'G'-winning Villagers saw their hopes ended by the Group 'F' runners-up in the 92nd minute of an enthralling see-saw encounter, which puts Lock Lane through to the quarter-finals.

The Castleford side swept into a 10-point lead in as many minutes with touchdowns by centre Bailey O'Connor and loose forward Chris Siddons, one of which was goaled by stand-off Nathan Fozzard.

Heworth were quick to respond and three minutes later, Cam Taylor went over in the corner following some crisp handling.

On 21 minutes, they reduced the deficit to two points when skipper and full-back Fraser West touched down after following up a neat kick by stand-off Ben Dyson-Dent.

It was now end-to-end action and on the half-hour, Lock Lane stretched their lead when O'Connor touched down and converted.

On 38 minutes, the gap was back to two points when West and substitute hooker Dave Hayes combined to send fellow bench-man Ben Barnard crashing over. Centre James Morland added the extras.

Just before the interval, a superb off-load from forward Tyler Craig on the halfway line sent Taylor racing away down the right flank. While being tackled, he flipped the ball to supporting centre George Elliott, who charged over and gave the Villagers an 18-16 interval lead.

There was no let up in the action at the start of the second period and after only three minutes, scrum-half Liam Jackson made good metres before sending a pin-point kick behind the visitors' defensive line, where Taylor followed up to score. Craig slotted the conversion to put the hosts eight points ahead.

The lead was short-lived though and Lock Lane hit back with two tries in five minutes from centre Craig Duncan and hooker Craig Savage, both of which O'Connor improved to make it 28-24.

Second-rower Fergus Chapman levelled the contest in the 67th minute after following up a kick by loose-forward Danny Allan to score.

With five minutes left, Heworth went six points ahead when, after shifting the ball from left to right, Taylor crossed for his hat-trick score. Craig converted.

But Heworth failed to gather the ensuing short kick off and the visitors snapped up possession, making good ground before Jack Smith went over. O' Conner's fourth conversion made it 34-34.

In a frantic finale, both sides failed with field goal attempts during the first two five-minute periods of extra time before Savage's second try after two minutes of the third session broke Heworth hearts.

Taylor's hat-trick earned him Heworth's man-of-the-match award.