West Bowling 14

Sharlston Rovers 16

West Bowling looked home and dry with a ten-point advantage and just four minutes to go, only to see victory clawed from their grasp when Sharlston stormed over for two converted tries in a cracking fourth round GMB National Cup tie at the Bankfoot Oval.

Sharlston should have broken the deadlock when second row forward Andy Booth reached the whitewash only to knock on over the line.

Bowling roared down field and declined a simple shot at goal after prop Carl Sayer gave the referee unwarranted advice. The resulting play failed due to a forward pass but their dominance was at last rewarded when influential scrum half Steve Illingworth put a high kick into the red zone on the last tackle. Sharlston wingman Jamie Cox gathered cleanly but second row forward Ian Wormald stole the ball in a one-on-one tackle and centre Mark Dunning took the pass to score in the corner.

Shortly afterwards Dunning turned from hero to villain when he missed a simple tackle and Sharlston's Jon Agar scooted over to close the half 4-4.

Bowling came out all guns blazing on the restart and the industrious Illingworth was again to the fore supplying a peach of a pass to the supporting Simpson, who side-stepped his way to the chalk. Substitute half back Gareth Cullerton joined the fray to dummy his way past two defenders and sprint over at the side of the posts.

Simpson added the extras to give Bowling a healthy 14-4 advantage.

Bowling looked to be in trouble when they went a man down after Ricky Helliwell was sent to the sin bin for talking back. But they weathered the storm and everything that the Rangers could throw at them to play out the vital ten minutes.

Sharlston looked a beaten side but with just four minutes left on the clock, in desperation they hoisted a huge up and under. Full back Shaun Tordoff lost the ball in the swirling wind and wingman Lee Maskill gleefully accepted the gift to cross and Lee Lingard added the conversion.

Gordon Long then put a raking grubber kick down the touchline side and when Bowling failed to make the ball safe, Thacker was on hand to force his way over at the uprights. Lingard made no mistake with the final kick of the match and a shell-shocked West Bowling trooped off the field to contemplate defeat in two major cup competitions in the space of a fortnight.