Horden 18 Sandal 13
Sandal's dream of a trip to Twickenham disappeared in the North East gloom when an under-par performance saw them lose with the last play of the game just as it appeared that extra time was beckoning.The Milnthorpe Green men started strongly and were rewarded when a late tackle on fly half Tom Smith saw him pick himself up off the ground and kick the penalty to give his side an early three point lead. The home side responded with a penalty from centre Turner and then went further ahead when Sandal's failure to clear their lines resulted in the same player crossing under the posts and converting his try to increase the lead to ten points to three. With Sandal increasingly incurring the wrath of the local Durham referee Horden increased their lead further through another penalty from Turner. Although Sandal were not re-producing the form of earlier in the season they responded with a penalty from fly half Smith and then a try from captain Matt Hemingway and conversion from Smith on the stroke of half time to go into the break level and mightily relieved.
Following a straight talk from coaches Kilfoyle and Heron Sandal increased their tempo in the second half and had far the better of the play. However they found themselves unable to break through and were penalised whenever they got field position. Scrum half Max Whittingham broke clear on a couple of occasions but Horden held firm and threatened once themselves from a rolling maul from a lineout. With the game in the final minute and heading towards thirty minutes of extra time Horden moved the ball from a lineout on the twenty two. The home fly half fed his blind side winger who cut through the visiting defence to cross under the posts to leave Sandal and their supporters stunned as the referee blew his whistle for full time.
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