York failed to build on recent improvements in form and structure but were able to snatch victory in a disjointed game against visitors Yarnbury.

York started brightly and applied early pressure to earn a penalty in front of the posts, stand off Neil McClure converting. The large Yarnbury pack responded in kind and good ball found dangerous centre Avison breaking clear for the line only to be tackled by Campbell Thomson. The visitors camped in the York 20m and were rewarded with a penalty, the first of many, converted by full back Pound, 3-3.The game became disjointed as a series of injuries, mistakes and infringements prevented any momentum with York ruining attacking territory with consecutive penalties. Yarnbury capitalising on this with a series of drives for the line from their heavy pack before the ball was flipped out to winger Maycock to touch down in the corner, 25 minutes gone, 3-8.York rallied enough to earn an attacking lineout on the Yarnbury 10m. Although initially lost, possession was regained and the ball was fed to the speedy Tom Newitt who carved through the opposition and offloaded to Hugh Nicholson who was held up just short but earned the penalty for McClure to slot over, 6-8. Very few highlights remained in the half with the visitors showing more enterprise and possession whilst the hosts contrived to concede a further 2 penalties. On the stroke of halftime Newitt broke wide on the stand side and fed Nicholson whose kick and chase for the line was foiled as the ball went over the dead ball line.

Playing into a strong cross wind, York had an early let off when replacement kicker Falgate pushed a kick wide following yet another infringement. With replacements Jon Dawes, James Hartley and Josh Mortimer all introduced early in the half, York attempted to find new impetus. A nice side step and break from McClure saw the ball fed wide to Will Dunlop who took play into the Yarnbury 15m only for play from the scrum to be penalised yet again. York were rewarded shortly after though with a McClure penalty, 9-8.York lost influential skipper Chris Fox to injury which normally signals a collapse and this was ominously followed by a rash late challenge. Kicked to touch and a rapid lineout catch and drive over the line for a try, well converted by Falgate. 55 minutes gone 15-9 to the visitors. York came back through surging breaks from Nicholson, Newitt and Thomson, who was caught just short of the line. Marcus Britland earning a yellow card as referee, Mr Pearson, finally tired of the repeated offences. Yarnbury applied the pressure, and Falgate slotted another on 65 mins to make it 18-9. With both sides still making errors, York finally got the ball wide to Newitt who was tackled just short with York awarded the lineout. From here Josh Parker emerged as the try scorer following a good rollling maul , Dawes converted. Now 16-18, on 70 minutes.

Scrum half Toby Atkin, playing against his home club, decided to personally up the tempo in the last few minutes and broke clear from the kick off having spun his way through the Yarnbury pack. Prop Dan Coe was in support to hurtle through the defensive line to earn York an attacking lineout on the 10m. York were held up midfield and Yarnbury kicked long from the scrum to fullback George Davies who countered into the Yarnbury half forcing a penalty. Atkin took the quick tap and scampered over the gainline, McClure took play blind and winger Dunlop dived in at the corner for the try. Dawes hitting the posts from wide out, 21-18.The hosts managed to hold out for the final 2 minutes to record the win which had never seemed likely for large parts of the game.The referee awarded 17 penalties in the match, most of which were against the hosts. This game was a somewhat retrograde step after the good performance last week. Too many silly penalties and niggles and not enough tackling round the legs to be honest and the better team on the day was Yarnbury. They will feel unlucky as they did dominate play for periods of the second half.

There were some good individual performances again from McClure, Newitt, Thomson and Parker in particular but a most apt man of the match was Toby Atkin.