Skipton 27

Ilkley 26

IF you chose to spend this Saturday afternoon sat in front of the TV watching England's turgid display against Greece - hard luck.

If you had instead gone to Sandylands you would have witnessed a superb game of rugby in which the lead changed hands five times in the last 18 minutes and the result was in doubt until the very final seconds.

Skipton got just the start they wanted when the Ilkley midfield was adjudged offside in the first minute right under their own posts, presenting Adam Oldfield with the simplest of chances and a 3-0 lead for Skipton.

With Ilkley being prompted forward by their impressive fly-half, Andy Cadman, it was no surprise when they took the lead on nine minutes.

Cadman kicked a penalty deep into Skipton territory and when the line was cleanly taken, the pack drove forward, Ben McDonald claiming the try. Cadman's attempted conversion failed, to leave Ilkley 5-3 ahead.

Skipton did have chances to fight back - most notably when Anthony Maldera backed up a break by Andy Porter, but the referee adjudged the scoring pass forward and the chance was lost.

On 25 minutes Cadman extended the lead to 8-3 when he converted a penalty for offside, but even then Skipton had further chances, with both Duncan Brown and then Oldfield making clean breaks only for the final pass to go on both occasions.

Half-time was reached with Ilkley having had the better of the last 15 minutes and deservedly in the lead. There was little, however, to warn the crowd of the excitement to come in the second half.

Chris Howarth joined the action in place of Peter Jenkinson and on 44 minutes Paul Lacy showed a devastating turn of pace when coming off his right wing to take the ball on the left to score comfortably by the posts, Oldfield adding the conversion to restore Skipton's lead at 10-8.

Just 10 minutes later Cadman converted a penalty to put Ilkley back in front when the Reds transgressed at the lineout and on 59 minutes Ilkley again drove forward from a lineout, with this time Charlie Cudworth coming up with the ball, although Cadman's kick drifted wide.

With the game moving into the last 20 minutes, Skipton full-back Anthony Maldera then scored a truly remarkable try.

With the referee signalling a penalty to Skipton, Adam Winthrop passed to Maldera some 40 metres out and with little support. The Ilkley defence seemed well organised as the Frenchman set off towards the line, but he burst through the first tackle.

The second and third defenders were left grasping mid air and he bounced off the fourth like an out of control pinball. All that was left was the last 10 metres and Ilkley full-back Sean Gilbert, but he was dealt with effectively as Maldera simply ran straight over him to score an unlikely try at the posts.

With Oldfield converting, Skipton now led 17-16, but Cadman soon reinstated Ilkley's advantage with an excellent penalty from just five metres inside the Skipton half.

However, Ilkley were penalised at the restart and an equally impressive effort from Oldfield put Skipton in front 20-19.

On 71 minutes an astute chip through from the Ilkley fly half stood up nicely for his skipper Brendan Kelly and he scored a try in the corner, Cadman adding a good conversion to make the score 26-20 to Ilkley. Cadman then had a chance to seal the game with a penalty, but his kick was well wide.

With the game moving into injury time, Skipton had one last throw of the dice. Lacy was released on the right and his speed carried him past the first two defenders.

When he chipped the ball past Gilbert he seemed odds-on to score, but the full back pulled him down without the ball and he was penalised by referee Gavin Pender. Would he give a penalty try? Would Gilbert be sin binned?

The referee decided neither was appropriate and simply gave Skipton a penalty five metres from the Ilkley line.

The ball was put into touch with the final whistle surely only seconds away. Skipper Declan Hayes successfully found Jack Morgan with the lineout throw and this time it was the turn of the Red forwards to drive towards the try line, eventually Chris Howarth plunging over, some 15 metres in from touch.

Cometh the hour and cometh the man. Oldfield was left with a kick, straight into the wind and from his wrong side, to win the game.