Will Burton’s boot helps Luctonians snatch late victory at Harrogate in National League Two North (From Hereford Times)

Will Burton’s boot helps Luctonians snatch late victory at Harrogate in National League Two North

4:10pm Friday 27th January 2012 in Rugby

Harrogate 16 pts Luctonians 19.

LUCTONIANS grabbed a dramatic late victory to keep alive their National Two North promotion hopes.

Trailing by 11 points with just 10 minutes to play, the Herefordshire side staged a revival to grab victory with seconds remaining.

Playing against a strong wind in the first period, Luctonians were fortunate not to go behind in the early stages when Callum Irvine put a relatively easy penalty wide.

But the home player made amends when he went over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Luctonians were quickly back on level terms, though, when Paul Hulland drove over from the back of a scrum.

Harrogate continue to push forward and, although they were unable to break down a solid visiting defence, went into the half-time break with a six-point lead after Irvine kicked two penalties.

An early penalty miss by John Morris saw Harrogate gain momentum, forcing Luctonians to concede a number of penalties.

And, after several lectures, the referee lost patience and sin-binned man-of-the-match Bruce Thomas.

Harrogate quickly took advantage of the situation and Tom Harvey was driven over for a try to take the score to 16-5.

With 10 minutes remaining, Luctonians finally began to take control and prop Anthony Marfell was driven over for a try which Will Burton converted.

With Luctonians piling on the pressure, Harrogate were forced into conceding a number of penalties.

The visitors, still four points adrift, opted for scrums and this paid off when former Worcester Warriors Louis Silver sent winger Will Richards over in the corner.

A superb kick by Burton added the extra points and Luctonians held out despite a late rally from the Yorkshiremen.

RESULTS — NATIONAL AND DIVISIONAL RUGBY LEAGUES Bromsgrove 23 Stockport 10, Harrogate 16 Luctonians 19, Kendal 5 Otley 11, Sheffield Tigers 8 Nuneaton 3, Caldy 10 Huddersfield 12, Hull 3 Loughborough Students 20, Leicester Lions 11 Hull Ionians 16, Westoe 37 Preston Grasshoppers 6.

P W D PF PA Pts Loughborough 19 16 1 623 302 78 Westoe 20 13 0 519 351 68 Huddersfield 19 14 1 451 277 66 Caldy 20 13 0 561 398 64 Luctonians 19 13 0 401 316 59 Preston Grass 20 12 1 472 444 58 Bromsgrove 20 10 1 447 400 51 Stockport 20 10 0 436 429 50 Sheffield Tigers 19 9 0 392 396 45 Hull 19 8 1 340 385 45 Nuneaton 20 8 1 365 468 39 Otley 20 6 0 374 526 31 Leicester Lions 20 5 1 371 481 31 Hull Ionians 20 6 0 337 524 30 Harrogate 19 5 1 327 482 29 Kendal 20 5 0 325 562 29