York travelled to Old Brodleians knowing that a victory would propel them past the Halifax side currently in 4th place in Yorkshire 1 just above York. Brods has never been a happy hunting ground with it's notorious sloping pitch and usually inclement weather so expectations were not at their highest.

Playing down the slope in calm weather conditions York immediately threatened as centre Sam Forbes broke through the defence and earned a penalty which was kicked to the 5m only for the throw in to be judged not straight. Following more York pressure another line out secured off the top ball for Forbes and Will Norris to crash into the 20m , Brods transgressed at the tackle and George Davies stroked over the penalty; 0 - 3 . Both sides were attempting to play attractive rugby but play became rather disjointed as the referee quite rightly penalised crooked throws and scrum feeds . It took 20 minutes for York to put together their concerted phases of play as forwards and backs combined well to set winger Hugh Nicholson up with space for the line; appearing to crash over he was judged to have just been in touch. York attacked again only to be foiled by the first of three interceptions, Nicholson making amends with a solid cover tackle. Busy no 8 Josh Parker broke 20m down the blind to set up more attacking phases from which the immaculate Davies converted the penalty earned, 0 - 6 , 25 mins gone. York indiscipline enabled the home side to gain territory inside the 10m for the first time in the match, good defence from a rolling maul and back ball was wasted when full back Vine crossed over too easily from a 5m scrum, 5 - 6. York were showing good attacking intent but all too often basic errors thwarted them and they were nearly made to pay for this as a Brods forward broke clear only to pass to Lewis Hannibal with the line at his mercy, York were able to clear to the halfway. On the stroke of halftime, excellent quick line out ball finally made its way to the dangerous Tom Newitt who raced 20m, found his supporting players and after 2 more phases the ball was fed to wide to Hannibal to plunge over the line, Davies converting, 5 – 13.

There was a frantic start to the second half from both sides and a spilled ball from Brods allowed Newitt to scorch up the wing to within 5m before the home team managed to clear their lines. Marc Benson and Will Atkin then attacked down each wing before the York pack took a Brods scrum against the head , Forbes bulldozed his way through the midfield before feeding Newitt who wriggled through 3 defenders to score , Davies nailed another wide conversion, 5 -20, 45 mins. Good work from Parker and captain Chris Fox went unrewarded as an attacking line out came to nothing and this was soon punished by Brods who put some excellent passages of play together resulting in American prop Pritchard crashing over the line, 10 - 20. It was now York's turn to show flair following a mazy Nicholson run, Brods clearance kick found Atkin who made ground and fed Newitt whose lightening pace took him past the cover defence and feed inside to Liam Hessay to score under the posts; an easy kick for Davies, 10 - 27. Brods kick off failed to go the 10m, York were straight onto the attack but as the ball went wide winger Hoyle picked off an easy interception to coast his way under the posts , Bracewell converted, 17 - 27. This gave Brods some self-belief and they mounted a series of midfield attacks with York failing to deal with the broken field runners - Pritchard in particular. Both sides lost a prop to the sin bin following a difference of opinion at a scrum. York errors continued, enabling Brods to launch a series of drives resulting in the dynamic Pritchard grabbing his second try with 5 minutes remaining, 22 - 27. In the last minute and as the light started to fail, York were yet again unable to deal with the opposition strike runners and centre Clay went over for the inevitable score - happily for York the conversion was wide, full time 27:27.

Another game that should have been won but a decent performance largely and by far the best showing at Brods for a long time. We will have to up our concentration levels for the full 80 minutes next week as Clifton Park host close rivals Scarborough.